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The first usage of the term "binge-watch" dates back to 2003, but the concept of watching multiple episodes of a show in one sitting gained popularity around 2012. Netflix's 2013 decision to release all 13-episodes in the first season of House of Cards at one time, instead of posting an episode per week, marked a new era of binge-watching streaming content. In 2015, "binge-watch" was declared the word of the year by Collins English Dictionary, which said use of the term had increased 200% in the prior year.

73% of Americans admit to binge-watching, with the average binge lasting three hours and eight minutes. 90% of millennials and 87% of Gen Z stated they binge-watch, and 40% of those age groups binge-watch an average of six episodes of television in one sitting.

The coronavirus pandemic led to a sharp increase in binge-viewing: HBO, for example, saw a 65% jump in subscribers watching three or more episodes at once starting on Mar. 14, 2020, around the time when many states implemented stay-at-home measures to slow the spread of COVID-19.

A 2021 Sykes survey found 38% of respondents streamed three or more hours of content on weekdays, and 48% did so on weekends. However, a Nielsen study found adults watched four or more hours of live and streaming TV a day, indicating individuals may be underestimating their TV consumption.

Is Binge-Watching Good for You?

Pro 1

Binge-watching establishes beneficial social connections.

The act of bingeing content fosters a sense of community around a show, something experts call a "shared cultural space." This common ground allows viewers to discuss and enjoy the show with everyone from a coworker to the stranger in line at the grocery store. This shared space makes it easier to relate to other people and share personal perspectives.

Romantic relationships can also be strengthened by binge-watching together because it serves as a fun activity that creates a shared interest and offers an easy way to spend time together. Licensed professional counselorHeidi McBain said that "if both people are partaking without distractions, laughing together, holding hands... quality time is being fostered."

A study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships found that binge-watching can help long-distance relationships by replacing shared activities such as going to dinner together and having mutual friends.
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Pro 2

Binge-watching has health benefits like stress relief.

According to psychiatrists, binge-watching releases dopamine in the brain, which creates a feeling of pleasure and can help people to relax and relieve stress. Psychologists say that finishing a series can give viewers feelings of control and power, which can be beneficial if viewers are not feeling that in their daily lives.

John Mayer, PhD, clinical psychologist, stated, "We are all bombarded with stress from everyday living... It is hard to shut our minds down and tune out the stress and pressures. A binge can work like a steel door that blocks our brains from thinking about those constant stressors that force themselves into our thoughts."

With the rise of at-home workouts, binge-watching can be paired with exercise. Adding a favorite show to an exercise routine can make the time pass more quickly, add motivation, and increase compliance with an exercise routine. Jan Van den Bulck, Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, stated, "Two years ago, I bought a good indoor rower and told myself I am allowed to watch whatever I want when I am on that machine, and it has helped me to row every day for 45 minutes with no feelings of guilt and no boredom. The cliffhangers work to my advantage: it makes me want to row more the next day."
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Pro 3

Binge-watching makes a show more fulfilling.

While binge-watching, the viewer can feel the pleasure of full immersion (aka "the zone"), which is a great feeling similar to staying up all night to finish a book or project. Shows made for binge-watching, such as Orange Is the New Black and Stranger Things, are often more sophisticated and have multiple intricate storylines, complex relationships, and multi-dimensional characters.

Watching several episodes at once tends to make the story easier to follow and more enjoyable than a single episode. That's a big reason why the show You went unnoticed while airing on Lifetime but became a sensation once available to binge on Netflix.
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Con 1

Binge-watching leads to mental health issues.

A University of Texas study found that binge-watchers were more likely to be depressed, lonely, and have less self-control. One of the study's authors, Yoon Hi Sung, PhD, stated: "When binge-watching becomes rampant, viewers may start to neglect their work and their relationships with others."

Binge-watching can lead to addiction. Dr. Renee Carr, a clinical psychologist, said, "The neuronal pathways that cause heroin and sex addictions are the same as an addiction to binge watching. Your body does not discriminate against pleasure. It can become addicted to any activity or substances that consistently produces dopamine."
A study found that rather than relieving stress, excessive TV watching is associated with regret, guilt, and feelings of failure because of a sense of wasted time. When that binge-watching session is over, the viewer may be more likely to "mourn" the loss of the show by experiencing depression, anxiety, and feelings of emptiness.

Maricarmen Vizcaino, a Research Scholar in the College of Health Solutions at the University of Arizona, stated, "you would assume that people will feel happier because they're watching their show, or they're [watching] some entertainment, but that's not the case - people are more stressed out, if they're binge-watching."
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Con 2

Binge-watching can cause serious physical health problems.

Sitting for extended periods of time has long been linked to slow metabolism, heart disease, cancer, blood clots, and deep vein thrombosis. Binge-watchers are prone to sit on the couch eating unhealthy food and snacking more, which is linked to weight gain.

One study found that binge-watching was related to poorer sleep quality, more fatigue, and insomnia, because of pre-sleep arousal. Researchers have also found that watching three or more hours of TV a day is associated with premature death.

Another study concluded, "Heavy users reported the least healthful dietary patterns and the poorest health-related characteristics... Binge-watching was also significantly associated with less healthy dietary patterns, including frequency of fast-food consumption as well as eating family meals in front of a television, and perceived stress."
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Con 3

Binge-watching makes the show less fulfilling.

A study found that people who watched multiple episodes of a show in one sitting reported "significantly less show enjoyment" than people who watched one episode at a time. Damon Lindelof, the co-creator of popular shows such as Lost, stated, "This idea of anticipation. That Christmas morning feeling... doesn't exist in binge culture."

The popularity of bingeing shows makes social media a minefield of spoilers for people who haven't had time to finish a new season, and a lack of agreement over when the spoiler embargo should be lifted causes rifts among shows' fanbases.
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Discussion Questions

1. Do you prefer watching several episodes of a new show at one time or one episode per week? How does your viewing experience change when binge-watching?

2. What other pros and cons for binge-watching can you list? Which side do you find more convincing and why?

3. What reasons can you think of to explain why some streaming services like Netflix drop a full season at once? What reasons might a service such as Disney+ have for posting just one episode per week?

Take Action
1. Contemplate Talib Babb's comedic take on " Why Binge-Watching Is Good for You."

2. Investigate your own binge-watching with the " Quarantine Binge Watching Calculator."

3. Consider Jake Pitre's critical theory of binge-watching.

4. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? If so, how? List two to three ways. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the "other side of the issue" now helps you better argue your position.

5. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives.
Sources

5.

Liese Exelmans and Jan Van den Bulck, "Binge Viewing, Sleep, and the Role of Pre-Sleep Arousal," Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2017

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Should Parents or Other Adults Be Able to Ban Books from Schools and Libraries? - Proponents say parents have the right to choose what kids read. Opponents say that right doesn't extend to everyone's children.

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Is Binge Watching Bad for You? Top 3 Pros and Cons

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Proponents say binge-watching establishes beneficial social connections. Opponents say it leads to mental health issues. Explore both sides of the debate.

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Editor's Note: Aaron Riccio is an arts and entertainment critic whose theater reviews can be found at That Sounds Cool and whose articles on television and video games are at Slant Magazine.

Story highlights

If you think television is like junk food, then binging on it is not for you. But there are many people not like you who love pixelated brain candy and think binge-viewing is the only way to devour a season (or more) of TV programming properly - and networks are slowly beginning to take note.

More and more viewers are turning on to elaborately scripted shows, tuning in via digitized devices and not dropping out: They're watching marathons of their own making.

Instead of watching live each week by "appointment," viewers are taking a full day (or weekend or even week) to watch a show's entire season or a series from beginning to end. This may sound gluttonous and monotonous, but bingers see it differently - a richer and more contemplative form of TV watching in which every nuance is savored and analyzed.

Providers are adapting to this craving for deeper, heartier, 22-course meals. Netflix recently premiered, all at once, the entire first season of its new political thriller "House of Cards," and the TV streaming apps HBOGo and HuluPlus have salad-bar layouts that make it easier than ever for viewers to immerse themselves fully in an entire series.

The commercial reasons that once encouraged channels to sacrifice narrative quality for episodic quantity are fading, especially as many viewers turn away from monthly subscriptions in favor of the per-episode (or per-season) prix fixe to be found, say, at Amazon.com, which dabbles both in online streaming and DVD sales.

My friends who binge-watch don't collapse into their couches, they commit to them, and this makes them demand a little more from programmers. Shows such as "Mad Men," "Game of Thrones" and "Arrested Development" are richer in lengthy doses: The more time spent in those worlds, the deeper your appreciation for the changing times in the offices of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, the intricate history and tenuous alliances between the Baratheons and Starks, and the subtle, recurring jokes of the Bluth family.

Watching, reading or listening to anything creative requires a suspension of disbelief, an investment of our reality in theirs. Every commercial break erodes that thin and personal connection a little; weeklong gaps between episodes stretch us closer and closer to the point at which our attention snaps and moves elsewhere. Viewership declines, sometimes before a show has an opportunity to catch on, as with the often-discussed "Firefly" or the more recent "Last Resort," which struggled to find the hook that would keep audiences coming back.

The pacing of some shows hardly even works on an individual level: Though he wouldn't dare to tell you how to watch it, creator David Simon would probably agree that binging on the entirety of "The Wire" at once, letting the bigger picture wash over you, would bring you closer to his vision for the show.

Binge-watching can make for good TV. The actors on any number of indistinguishable cop shows are entertaining, affable, gruff or quirky, but I'd turn to "The Good Wife's" long-term development any day ... and the only reason I got hooked on it is because I spent a flu-ridden week catching up on the first two seasons. And that's just network television: Several of the friends whom I introduced to "Breaking Bad" chose not to watch the first half of the final season, preferring to get it later in one high-intensity dose.

These friends picked up on subtle cues I hadn't noticed late in that fourth season, were better able to get inside Walter White's head, and became more a part of the series than I ever had: They'd fully fallen down that serialized rabbit hole, and now I was the one who seemed like the dilettante, merely putting in an hour each week, scraping the icing off the top of the seven-layered cake.

More critically, when another friend recently took a one-week safari through "Lost," he could clearly distinguish its shark-jumping moment, whereas those of us who had watched live were suckered in, fond memories of the past overshadowing the tainted present.

The more we change our viewing habits, the more the networks will adapt to fit them, and the higher the level of long-term programming networks will have to provide, no longer spider-webbing up plots on the fly in an attempt to deceptively tangle us into tuning in next week.

The shift from casual couch-surfing to brisk binging also encourages television to be bolder in its storytelling, to develop characters and settings as opposed to just plots: the difference between literature and pulp, not that you can't have both. Producing for the binger might also ease the stress of syndication, in which characters so often reset to the status quo that they might as well be contortionists on "The Simpsons." And wouldn't advertising targeted at the people who would raptly sit through 10 hours of "Battlestar Galactica" be more effective than scatter-shot rounds of the generic stuff?

Appointment television is dying, supplanted by On Demand features that allow viewers to set the schedules. As each generation grows older and decides it is not writing the Great American Novel, perhaps we'll choose to watch the Great American Television Show, and realize it's better when we don't have to break the illusion and set down the book for a week after every chapter.

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Editor's Note: Aaron Riccio is an arts and entertainment critic whose theater reviews can be found at That Sounds Cool and whose articles on television and video games are at Slant Magazine. If you think television is like junk food, then binging on it is not for you.

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You've probably guessed by now that your eyes won't go square from watching too much TV, but are there other side effects? ASAPScience investigates.

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Binge-watching can’t be good for you -- but is it really that bad?

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The streaming era has changed everything about the way people view television. You no longer have to wait for a new episode of your favorite show because many entertainment companies are releasing entire seasons and series of shows at once. This has lead to a new concept called binge-watching.

Binge-watching-the act of streaming many television episodes in one sitting-is become more and more common with all the streaming options available to consumers, including Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video, among others. You can stream these services on your television or on another electronic device, such as a laptop, tablet, or cell phone.

But as great as all these options might sound, health experts warn that because people are replacing time once spent exercising, socializing, and sleeping, they are increasing their risk for many serious health conditions, including cardiovascular disease (heart disease), depression, sleep problems, and behavioral addictions.

Much of the research on the health effects of binge-watching is new, but what is available does focus on and raise some serious health considerations. Here is what you need to know about the health risks associated with binge-watching and what you can do to cut down your TV time and potentially reduce your risk for adverse health outcomes.

Binge-watching has become common behavior. In fact, a 2018 poll found that 60% of American adults who use on-demand streaming services binge watch. Percentages are higher with younger audiences, with 73% of 18 to 29-year-olds binge-watching at least once a week.

Binge-watching behavior has health consequences and researchers from Arizona State University were determined to figure out what exactly these might be. Their study results are published in the August 2020 journal BMC Public Health. Here, they sent out an 18-question survey to 926 adults who had a television and at least one more device they used to stream television shows.

Researchers wanted to know how much time people were spending on their devices, their weight, what their diets looked like, how much sleep they got and the quality of that sleep, how much stress they incurred day-to-day, and their physical activity levels, and binge-watching habits.

What the researchers found was the heaviest screen time watchers were averaging about 17.5 hours per day across all devices. These users also reported the least healthful diets and poorest health outcomes in comparison to those who were moderate or light screen users.

The researchers also noted that heavy screen time habits can lead to unhealthy diet patterns like frequent fast-food consumption and eating family meals in front of a television. Heavy screen time use was also associated with perceived stress.

Arizona State University researchers concluded poor diet and negative health consequences would become more evident as viewing time increased. They also felt more research was needed to better understand what types of screen-related behaviors might affect health behaviors and outcomes.

Potential Health Consequences

Over time, binge-watching may harm your health in ways you may not expect. Among the concerns researchers have raised are decreased physical activity, sleep problems and fatigue, blood clots, heart problems, poor diet, social isolation, behavioral addiction, and cognitive decline.

Physical Inactivity

According to the National Institutes for Health (NIH), a mostly sedentary lifestyle is causally linked to a number of poor health outcomes, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, strokes, excessive weight gain, and mood disorders like anxiety and depression.

The more sedentary you are, the higher your risks are for these conditions. A sedentary lifestyle can also increase your risk of premature death.

A study reported in April 2020 in the International Journal of Environmental Research suggested a comparison between active sitting, such as working at a computer at a desk, and nonactive sitting like watching television. Non-active sitting, as the researchers suggest, might be linked to up to a 25% higher body mass index (BMI) and body fat in younger adults.

The connection between BMI and body fat wasn't as high with active sitting. And here, researchers stressed the importance of reallocating sedentary time to active time in order to reduce the risk for conditions associated with inactive sitting.

An Unhealthy Diet

Binge-watching is also linked to unhealthy diet habits, according to researchers from the University of Michigan. At the 67th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (2017), researchers discussed the link between binge-watching and poor lifestyle choices.

Here, they noted that binge-watching encouraged foregoing sleep, consumption of unhealthy meals, unhealthy snacking, and sedentary behavior.

A study reported in March 2020 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition associated television watching with distraction eating. And distraction eating, according to the researchers, leads to overeating and weight gain.

When people are eating this way daily or nightly, this starts to add up, eventually causing weight gain and increased risk for related health conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

Sleep Problems and Fatigue

You need sleep because it plays an important role in your mental and physical health and your quality of life. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), sleep is necessary for proper brain function, maintaining physical health, and promoting healthy growth and development in children and teens.

Sleep deficiency can lead to serious mental and physical health problems, injuries, loss of productivity, and a higher risk for early death.

An August 2017 report in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, finds binge-watching is connected to poorer sleep quality, increased fatigue, and insomnia symptoms. Here, the researchers found a state of engagement while binge-watching doesn't allow the brain to shut itself down.

As a result, it takes longer to fall asleep, and if you are falling asleep closer to morning and not getting the amount of sleep your body needs, the body unable to do necessary restoration and repair work.

Blood Clots

Hours you spend binge-watching your favorite series might feel great, but your blood vessels might not agree. In a 2018 study reported in the Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis, researchers found prolonged sitting for binge-watching is similar to prolonged sedentary behavior for long flights or during illness-it can increase the risk for deep-vein thrombosis (DVT).﻿﻿﻿

In this study, researchers found people who were sitting for long periods while watching and streaming television had an up to 70% higher risk for developing a blood clot than people who seldom watched TV.﻿﻿﻿ And that risk remains even if a person is not overweight and still being physically active.

Heart Health

Sitting for long periods can affect your heart health, and certain activities might be worse than others.

A study reported in 2019 in the Journal of the American Heart Association aimed to compare two types of sedentary behavior-TV watching versus occupational sitting, such as at a desk job. The goal of the study was to determine if these activities were equally harmful or if one was more harmful than the other.

Researchers found that excessive television viewing was associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) events and all-cause mortality (death rate from all causes) while occupational sitting wasn't associated with either outcome.

Regularly watching four or more hours a day of television could increase the risk for CVD or early death by up 50%, compared to people who are watching two or fewer hours daily. They concluded that reducing the amount of time watching TV was more effective for reducing CVD and morality risks than reducing occupational sitting.

Social Isolation

People who binge-watch tend to do so in solitude and researchers believe the more people binge-watch the more they isolate themselves. According to a report in the December 2017 issue of the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, links exist between social isolation, binge-watching, and poor mental health outcomes.

While the report's authors did not specifically dive into those links, they confirmed how easily binge watching could become addictive and overtake a person's social life. They concluded by noting the importance of managing these growing problematic behaviors.

Another study-this one from 2015 out of the University of Texas Austin-found people who are lonely and depressed were more likely to binge-watch, and the lonelier and more depressed someone is, the more binge-watching they will do.

Binge-watching among the study group was found to be a way to manage negative feelings. and those who struggled with self-regulation were more likely to binge-watch. The researchers suggested that binge-watching was particularly concerning here because the effects of watching too much television while dealing with feelings of loneliness and depression could lead to physical fatigue, obesity, and other serious health problems.

They further noted that binge-watching could affect work responsibilities and personal relationships because it could cause people to neglect these things.

Behavioral Addictions

Binge-watching might be considered a behavioral addiction. Having a behavioral addiction means you are dependent on and crave a particular behavior.﻿﻿﻿ Behavioral addictions can include anything from gambling to sex and videogames and yes, even, binge-watching.

According to a 2017 report in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, binge-watching may affect the pleasure centers of the brain in some people in the same way that other addictions would.﻿﻿﻿﻿ Binge-watching might give a sense of satisfaction causing a person to overindulge to the point that binge-watching affects daily activities and commitments, including work and school.

A review of studies on television addiction from 2013 in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions suggests dependence features of TV watching make it difficult to stop.﻿﻿﻿ These factors resemble neurological features seen in addiction.

According to the review's authors, people who spend a lot of time watching television can experience various role, social, and sedentary physical consequences when their viewing is not under control. And as with other addictions, binge-watching isn't their only addiction. Here, the review's authors suggest this evidence is an indication of a credible need for prevention and treatment approaches to television addiction.

Cognitive Decline

If you are spending hours binge-watching, you may want to consider the effect this may have on your brain health. A study reported in 2019 in the journal Scientific Reports suggests binge-watching could lead to cognitive decline down the road.﻿﻿﻿﻿

In this study, researchers used data from 3,000 adults over age 50 who were watching more than 3.5 hours of television daily. They found watching this amount of TV was associated with poor verbal memory after six years and this effect was strongest for people who had initially performed better at the start of the study.

The researchers suggest that instead of spending long hours watching TV, people should engage themselves in mind-building activities. This includes activities like reading, puzzles, games, and physical exercise.

How To Break the Habit

The best way to reduce the effects of binge-watching is to make television watching an occasional pleasure and not an everyday thing. Some ways to break this habit include:

Limiting yourself: You may want to watch a small number of episodes, i.e., two episodes of a show at a time. Once you have reached your limit, turn the TV off and find something else to do.

Setting a time limit: Decide on an appropriate amount of time you will watch television every night. Then set an alarm or timer to keep yourself stay on course.

Finding a balance: Balance your TV-watching with other activities, including exercise, reading, a hobby, or spending time with a friend.

Making TV watching a social thing:If you invite someone else to watch with you, you likely won't spend as much time watching and you won't get sucked into hours of streaming.

Making sure you have a bedtime: Binge-watching can cause you to sacrifice hours of sleep, which can affect you the next day and harm you in the long-term. It might help to set a bedtime alarm, so you don't lose track of time watching television.

Deciding to snack healthy: Rather than eating unhealthy snacks while watching TV, opt for snacks that have more nutritional value. Fruits and vegetables are healthier options over salty, fatty foods.

A Word From Verywell

There is nothing wrong with sitting down to catch up on your favorite show or watching an entire season over an occasional weekend. But when you start to have trouble taking care of your responsibilities and giving up on other activities, including time with family and friends, your TV time can become a serious problem.

If you find your TV viewing starts to have a negative impact on your health, your relationships and keeps you from living your life, talk to a therapist. This is especially important if you are unable to reduce your streaming time on your own.

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What to Know About How Binge-Watching Affects Your Health

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Binge-watching has become common behavior and health experts warn of increased health risks from long periods of streaming and watching TV.

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Streaming platforms are changing the way we watch television. With access to thousands of TV shows, movies and documentaries, we can watch just about anything we want, commercial-free, at any time, day or night.

There's a good chance you spent the past year streaming more video than ever before. In fact, according to market research firm Nielsen, the total amount of time people spent per week streaming video in 2020 increased by nearly 75% compared with 2019.

Watching anywhere between two and six episodes of a TV series in one sitting is a behavior called binge watching, and it can have a negative impact on your health. Before you curl up for your next binge, here are three health considerations you should know.

Binge Watching Is Like a Drug

Who knew binge watching your favorite series could produce a "high?" It's true.

When you're engaged in an activity you enjoy, your brain produces dopamine - a chemical that promotes feelings of pleasure, excitement and happiness. The release of dopamine helps us feel good, and it results in a "high" similar to that induced by drugs and other substances with addictive qualities. Your brain craves more and more, and as long as you continue to binge, your brain produces dopamine.

No wonder 73% of people surveyed by Netflix reported they have positive feelings when they binge watch.

"Our behaviors and thoughts, when repeated over time, can become actual neural patterns and habits that are hard to break or change," says Northwestern Medicine Psychiatrist Danesh A. Alam, MD.

And like other addictive behaviors, binge watching can create a pseudo-addiction to the show, explains Dr. Alam.

As a result, marathon viewing can adversely affect your relationships, goals and commitments. You may struggle to control how much time you spend watching TV, or you may find that you need to continually increase the time you spend watching TV to experience the same degree of satisfaction. You may become defensive, irritable or unreasonable when asked to stop, and you may even start lying to cover up your binging.

Binge Watching Isolates You

Watching TV has traditionally been a way to wind down. It can bring temporary relief from the daily stress of work, school and parenting.

However, binge watching makes it easy to disconnect from other people. With multiple streaming accounts and multiple ways to view a show, it's easy to retreat to your corner of the house and zone out for hours at a time.

Binge Watching Interferes With Sleep

Research shows that watching back-to-back episodes of your favorite show may excite your brain, and as a result, interfere with your ability to sleep. Squeezing in just one more episode can cause you to stay up late at night, leaving you feeling tired and drained the next day.

There are other negative health effects:

Depression and anxiety. Research has found that the more lonely and depressed people reported to be, the more likely they were to binge watch TV.

Back problems. Posture is an important part of spine health. Poor posture while watching TV can cause your spine to be curved or weak, leading to back pain and musculoskeletal issues.

Respiratory function. Research has shown that respiratory function is greatly decreased among healthy young men sitting in a slumped position compared with healthy young men sitting with proper posture.

Lack of physical activity. If you're spending more time on the couch and less time exercising, your risk for heart disease, including stroke, is higher.

Tips for Managing Binge Watching

Limit yourself to a certain (small) number of episodes, like two or three at a time. When you've reached your limit, turn off the TV and move on to something else.

Set a time limit. Decide the amount of time you watch TV per night. Use a timer for accountability.

Balance TV-viewing with other activities, such as physical exercise, seeing friends and reading.

Keep lights turned on in the viewing area and your house so you don't lose sense of time.

Make it a social thing and invite a friend, spouse or kids to watch TV with you. Chat with fellow fans about characters, plots and cliffhangers.

You may start out planning to just watch one show, but if you burn through an entire season in one sitting, it may be time to reassess.

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Negative health effects of binge watching.

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There's a ton of research that suggests binge-watching is bad for you. I'm not a doctor, but I got a physical from one once, which qualifies me to reject the prevailing medical research. If you're wondering whether you should slow down on the screen time, here are reasons why binge-watching could benefit you.

You'll learn patience.
There's nothing like remaining still, at peace with the knowledge that you have nine hours' worth of programming ahead of you. You're usually anxious to get to the main character having his spiritual breakthrough-but sit tight. That's not until the fifth episode, so you've got four more hours. Thankfully, you can skip the intros, though.

You'll avoid sunburn.
Binge-watching means you won't see the sun and, more important, the sun won't see you. Put that lotion away. You can be as ashy as you want to be indoors-your TV or laptop won't judge you.

You'll always be near a bathroom.
When you leave your place, you have to strategically plan when and where you're going to use the facilities. Getting lost in a show keeps you close to your own bathroom, where you have privacy and don't have to buy an overpriced latte just to relieve yourself.

You can't lose your wallet.
Your wallet is safe and sound when you binge-watch. It's either in the jeans you wore yesterday or you lost it earlier in the week, but you can't misplace it while you stream your favorite comedy or drama.

You'll be spending quality time with somebody you don't hate.
If you don't hate somebody, you should spend quality time with them. And everyone knows that the best way to spend quality time with a person is by watching stuff on a streaming platform, together. Since you're watching TV, the two of you won't talk much, which limits the chances of you suddenly realizing that you hate them.

You won't run into your ex.
Hunkering down and binge-watching safeguards you against awkwardly running into your ex. You don't have to worry about dreadful small talk and lying about how great you're doing in life. Of course, this could take a disastrous turn if your ex happens to guest-star in the show you're watching. If that's the case, you'll just have to fast-forward through their scenes.

You won't get hit by a car.
Have you ever seen a car inside your apartment? Exactly. A Honda is not climbing up to a fourth-floor walkup. Hell, what with the muscle atrophy from all the binge-watching, you barely can.

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Getting lost in a show keeps you close to your own bathroom, where you have privacy and don't have to buy an overpriced latte just to relieve yourself.

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Binge-watching is the practice of watching one TV show for an extended period of time. Fast forward to midnight and you're halfway through the season.

Even if you know you'll end up waking up for work or school the next day, you'll eventually be tempted to stay for just one episode. Does this sound like you? If so, you are binge-watching.

This might seem like a harmless past time, but anything in excess brings about a host of dangers. Here are the pros and cons of binge-watching TV shows.
PROS Feeling of productive and fulfilled
When you finish the series, you feel a sense of accomplishment. In general, it feels as though you have completed a monumental task, and are now free to move on to your next big series.

Viewers can experience the joy of being completely immersed in the virtual world of their favourite series. Binge-watching also allows people to follow complex storylines, complex relationships and multidimensional characters.
Strengthens relationships
The very act of bingeing the content can help foster a sense of community around a series. Viewers can discuss and enjoy the show with everyone, from co-workers to strangers lining up at the grocery store.

It's a fun activity that sparks a common interest and provides an easy way to spend time together. Watching with family and friends, together or separately, creates a common cultural space.
Freedom of watching
Streaming services allow audiences to enjoy amazing TV shows that they would never be able to watch on regular terrestrial TV channels.

You don't have to wait a week for new episodes, or have to endure lengthy show hiatuses. Now streamers like Netflix have put together multiple seasons of a series, giving you complete freedom to watch several episodes or seasons over the weekend at your own pace.

One of the great things about binge-watching is that you can make the show go fast, literally, by increasing the playback speed to 1.5 times.
Reduce stress
Getting into a really engaging series will somehow make us less concerned about things happening around us. Normally our minds would be concerned with issues faced at work or school, which can lead to the tendency to stress about them.

However a binge session can help block our minds from our problems, preventing the constant thoughts from forcing themselves into us.

Binging creates a natural sense of enjoyment and can also help viewers to relax and relieve their stress. Completing a series can even give viewers a sense of control and power, which can help if viewers don't seem to feel it in their day-to-day life. It is truly a temporary escape from our daily drama.
Commercial-free experience
Advertisements can be the biggest turn-off for viewers, as they would probably be deeply engaged by a story already, and getting distracted by an ad would be a huge buzzkill.

Having an account on streaming sites like Netflix, Amazon Prime or Disney+ Hotstar offers you exclusive access to the most popular or latest web series. These steramers also offer an advertisement-free viewing experience.

Thanks to these ad-free services, viewers will be able to watch multiple episodes of their favourite shows back-to-back without having to worry about breaks. And this is perhaps the biggest benefit of the entire streaming experience.
CONS Mental and physical health issues
Binge-watching affects the quality of your sleep and your sleep patterns. You may keep convincing yourself that this will be the last episode you watch for the night, and then find yourself still watching hours later.

However, the lack of sleep makes you tired and restless. Making binge-watching TV shows your main priority can lead to the neglect of all others, which can create stress when it turns out that you've been ignoring important responsibilities.

People who focus too much on their TV series have been found to be lonelier and more prone to depression than people who don't, as it takes up too much of their time, and with little interest to hang around with friends or do other activities.

Their sedentary lifestyle also increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, obesity and blood clots.
Addiction
This might come as no surprise, but binge-watching can lead to addiction. For example, even if you only plan to watch up to Episode 3, you may end up watching the entire series. It's an addiction because it involves doing or investing more than you intended.

At the same time, our behaviour also becomes addictive when it starts to negatively affect various aspects of your life, for example when you neglect other activities or responsibilities to go on a show.
Dulled emotions
Binge-watching also means missing out on the pleasure of waiting for the next episode. In the days before binge-watching was possible, people would rewatch the last episode or build up the anticipation for the rest of the week thinking about what was going to happen in the next episode.

With binge-watching, you tend to move too quickly between episodes. The ups and downs don't hit as hard, because you don't waste time pondering about what took place, as you launch yourself straight into the next episode.

Cliffhangers are meaningless, taking something away from narrative building. There is less emotion invested in the show. There is no week or season break that allows you to process the emotions of the touching episode you just watched. This can make the show less interesting.
Anti-social
Binge-watching is an antisocial activity by nature. You can do this with someone else, but you will have to agree to a schedule, which brings its own set of issues. Sometimes the schedule just doesn't work out between friends or family, and you might have to reschedule the plan all over again. And if you are an impatient person, it's better to just do it alone to avoid all the extra hassle.

If you're passionate about the show, you might prefer to just stay back and focus on completing the show rather than attending social gatherings. Many people give up their plans in order to relax and finish watching their popular sitcoms.

Also, few people have a chance to talk to their friends about new episodes every week. In the past, when weekly episodes came out, there was enough time to analyse each episode with friends or colleagues. All these combined episode makes binge-watching a much less social activity. Of course, people should enjoy being alone, but they should also not take a completely anti-social stance.
Loss of time
The biggest disadvantage of binge-watching is the loss of time that occurs due to the binge watching of web series. Bingeing takes a long time for most people. This makes it difficult for you to make up for lost time and may lead to the kind of problems that may ascend.

People tend to not realise the time that they are losing everyday ignoring other chores which eventually would give you a hard time in the future.

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Binge-watching is the practice of watching one TV show for an extended period of time. Fast forward to midnight and you're halfway through the season. Even if you know you'll end up waking up for work or school the next day, you'll eventually be tempted to stay for just one episode.