Minutes Regarding Shared Screen Pause Etiquette
A piece of microfiction about two people who have never formally agreed on the rule that governs what happens to the show when one of them leaves the room.
She said, "Don't pause it, I'll just be a minute."
He paused it.
She returned at 9:47. He had paused at 9:42. Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be said. They were three minutes and forty seconds into the episode they had agreed not to wait for each other on.
This had happened before.
The first time, he had not paused it. She came back and missed a scene and asked what happened and he explained and she said it was fine and it was not entirely fine, which both of them understood without discussing. The second time, he paused it. She came back and said he didn't have to do that. He said it was fine. It was fine. More than fine.
The rule had never been agreed upon. The rule had never been stated. The rule existed because it had been performed twice, which is all any rule requires.
Someone pauses a show when another viewer leaves the room even after being told not to wait. This is shared screen pause etiquette. A second person copies the behavior because the repetition looks like experience. The group eventually treats the copied behavior as the safest available standard.
The subscription exists for relaxation. The selecting and managing of the subscription has become administrative work.
"You didn't have to do that," she said, meaning thank you.
"It was fine," he said, meaning I will always do this.
Neither of them said: we have now established a protocol. They did not need to. The protocol had been running for several months and would continue to run for as long as they watched anything together, which, it happened, was everything.
Any behavior that prevents embarrassment once must survive until formally challenged. No challenge forthcoming.