Binge Viewing

Some things I already knew about this topic were that watching too much tv will make your brain less attentive when watching tv. I also knew that if you sit on your couch all day you will become a couch potato and get fat. I also knew that when parents tell you your brain turns to mush when you watch tv, that it isn't true. Before my research I didn't really know much about binge watching and I thought it was a lot worse than it actually is.

Binge watching can be very harmful to everyone’s health. Binge watching is like a drug.

Watching television in the traditional way, like on a television set in a shared space can bring up many distractions. External factors like watching a show with other people or background noise can create distractions that drastically effect a viewers watching experience, thus decreasing their investment in the show. This is why I much prefer to watch television shows on a computer or tablet with headphones on. This promotes escapism and decreases, if not eliminates outside distractions. If I am very concentrated on the show I am watching, then I become much more likely to view the next episode and begin a binge watching spiral. This same concept goes to show why viewing a show in a shared setting with distractions decreases the likelihood of binge watching as viewers cannot achieve a high level of escapism and become less invested in the show.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a Deloitte LLP survey about binge-watching found that 68% polled said they had binge-watched before, with 31% saying that they had did so at least once a week. In response, the newspaper has called binge-watching “the dominant mode of TV consumption in the US”.

Binge watching also referred to as binge-viewing or marathon-viewing is watching television or a single television show for a long time span. It has become a very popular cultural phenomenon because of the online media services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon video. Viewers can also watch television shows and movies on-demand in a binge-viewing manner with cable and satellite services such as Time Warner Cable, Dish Network, and DirecTV. Movie apps and Amazon Fire TV stick also make binge watching adaptable. These companies offer their patrons their services at very affordable prices and therefore making it that much more convenient. Entire seasons of shows such as Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards are just two of the many shows viewers can indulge in. Other shows that are shown on television and not released at the same time, such as Breaking Bad and Undercover Boss can be found on Netflix and encourages binge watching. Binge watching has changed the relationship between the series and its audience in many different ways such as giving the viewer total control to choose when and where and for how long he or she wants to view the show.

Of course, it was really Netflix who brought the concept of binge-watching to the masses. And certainly there’s something to be said for spending a sick day curled up on the couch cherry-picking episodes of Frasier, Malcolm in the Middle or one of the myriad Star Trek series. Yet there's also a lot of lesser-known, completely free video entertainment

The rapid growth of on-demand digital streaming as well as user-generated video sites has transformed the way Americans consume media. Online video streaming has quickly become a multi-billion dollar industry with companies like Amazon, Hulu, Facebook, YouTube, and Netflix, which valued at fourty-two billion in 2015, generating large quarterly profits. This entertainment landscape not only provides an endless buffet of choices that are instantly accessible at the touch of a screen or remote control, but it has also contributed to the prevalence of binge watching. A 2015 survey conducted by TiVo revealed, that among its subscribers, 9 out of 10 people regularly engage in “binge viewing”. Deloitte’s 10th annual Digital Democracy Survey identified binge watching as a common habit, with 70% of respondents binge watching an average of five episodes at a time, and almost 31 percent binging on a weekly basis. Binge watching has quietly become a common, and even

Where you should do this and what should you watch, are both important questions and the building blocks of Binging. There are different reasons to begin Binging, and they change depending on the person. For you it might be that you’re bored, you having nothing else to do, or you get really

A first important lesson learned from Netflix is all good things come to an end. Although Netflix is an entertainment app,

I hold this notion to be true: that I am not a Binge Watcher, that I have been endued by my mother with strength of character, purposefulness and promise which enables me to reject the sirens call of How To Get Away with Murder, that empowers me to no longer be a slave to past seasons of Jane the Virgin and that promises me a future without the need to become a human vegetable the carcass of which Netflix is feeding upon. It is true that no streaming service, nay no source of entertainment

The average American watches five hours of television a day, or about 35 hours a week. Annually, the average American watches almost 1,200 hours of television. But people do not simply just watch television, they watch the shows that they like. This is why Netflix is a big hit today in America’s society. With Netflix, people can watch their favorite TV shows and movies anywhere and anytime that they like. Netflix has inserted some competition into the television industry, giving suffering cable customers an alternative that they’ve craved for years. Netflix is taking over the cable television industry.

When people think of hobbies they think of things such as fishing or golf but there are so many other options. There is a hobby that 70% of Americans participate in but is rarely acknowledged; binge-watching (source). Binge-watching is defined as watching multiple episodes of shows in one sitting. There is a negative stigma around people who spend their free time indulging in a show, they are frequently considered “lazy” or “couch potatoes”. The negative thoughts towards binge-watching should stop because it can be a beneficial hobby since it can increase intelligence, strengthen relationships and can help escape daily stresses.

The temptations that can disrupt human life are often caused by pure indulgences. That which we most desire may ultimately harm and destroy us. For example, no one has to drink alcohol. Realizing when a diversion has gotten out of control, such as alcohol, is one of the greatest challenges of life. These excessive cravings do not necessarily involve physical substances. Gambling can be compulsive, leading to great financial distress; sex can become obsessive, often altering a persons mentality and behavior. However, one activity is repeatedly over-looked. Most people admit to having a love-hate relationship with it. It is America’s most popular leisure past-time, the television. It is

Hammermeister found that television-free individuals show a stronger association with enhanced psychosocial health profiles than members of the moderate viewing group (i.e., the group following AAP guidelines) was not supported for men or women. Watching television less than two hours per day provides the same relation with psychosocial health as being television-free in this sample. This is consistent with cultivation studies examining behavioral effects of television viewing and

A final, yet serious result of watching too much television is its link to obesity. Watching television does not add on calories to your stomach, but it does absolutely nothing to help you burn them. As you sit there, watching your favorite shows, you are not doing anything to burn the calories you ate earlier. So, eating foods while you are sitting in front of the television for a couple of hours everyday add a lot of calories to your body which may be a large reason of becoming fat. In a study described by Gabe Mirkin, M.D., in the Journal of