The Binge Oblivion

Photo by Hasan Albari from Pexels

              Ever since the growth of streaming services like HotStar,Amazon Prime Video,Netflix,AltBalaji,etc, there has been the rise of a new culture of Binge-Watching TV Shows and Web-Series.What is Binge-Watching?Well it is also all called marathon viewing and it basically means consistent viewing of a TV show for multiple straight episodes in one sitting.People consider anything from watching two to six episodes or more episode in devices like TV,Laptops,Tablets,Mobiles,etc as Binge-Watching.Binge-Watching shows a very direct and visible shift in the way content is made and consumed.Ever since the rise of major streaming services,the way content specifically TV shows or Web-Series are distributed has changed drastically.Unlike the more traditional approach of TV channels broadcasting their shows weekly or daily, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video Release the entirety of their specific shows all together.They have a set date for their respective shows and then they release all the episodes of their respective shows on that set date.The advantage is that people do not have to wait every week to watch their favorite shows and their are no monthly breaks that shows take to complete shooting their back-half episode.Well that means we could watch the entirety of a show in one day if we want to(Although I won't recommend it) .And the biggest difference is that the shows on the these streaming services are usually a lot smaller ranging from eight to 13 episodes instead of the usual 22 episodes of TV.I think Binge-Watching is such an interesting topic to talk about because despite it advantages,it can be kinda bad and stressful.
            Well according to Wikipedia,61% of Netflix survey participants Binge content regularly.Now that actually hurts my head because I cannot even think of regular binge watching and it is beyond me how do people do that.I know people who watch Web-Series everyday and have like fixed schedule of watching as much as five episodes daily and it is hard to imagine how do they even do it.I just cannot do it,atleast not regularly and maybe once a while it is fine but regular viewing is just the death of my body and my brain.It is so easy to get addicted to this culture and to reach a point where you just cannot think of stop watching.I mean if you are watching a great show and it ends on some kind of cliffhanger,you are compelled to watch more and what was supposed to be a two episode mini Binge turns into a long four or five episode Binge and before you even realize,that is five hours of your day just gone in a flash,the precious five hours that you could have used to do so many other,more productive things.Wikipedia states that Mark Smits is credited as one of the first Binge-Watchers and he watched all the five seasons of The Wire in three days in the September of 2008.So,The Wire has ten to thirteen episodes per season that means this guy was watching more than 1.5 seasons daily and my only question to Mr.Mark is 'Was it worth it?So much bloodshed?'.I wonder what was his mental state during that time and I doubt that he was even enjoying the show after five episodes.In 2013 MacTaggart Lecture, actor Kevin Spacey said that if people want to Binge-Watch,they should Binge-Watch and I agree that people have the right to Binge what ever they want to Binge but just like anything in the world,it should be done within a limit. ITV director Peter Fincham said that the Binge-Watch culture erodes the social value of television as their are fewer opportunities to anticipate future episodes and the discussion with friends from an episodes to episode basis gets reduced.And I agree that the anticipation of watching episodes weekly is much more and the break actually helps to let your brain sink in all the information that it has collected and frankly you remember a show much better than when you watch a show weekly when compared to a show you binged but even though the anticipation is reduced,it is still there and that is why people keep watching in the first place.As for the discussions,I do agree that the episodic discussions are almost non existent but the discussion of the entire season as a whole are still there and the predictions for the next season are still there too.So I think that is not that big of a deal.One of the most major factor behind more uncontrollable Binge-Watching is the quantity of content.Companies now are power houses and when it comes to producing content in mass quantity,no one is behind.Companies are announcing new shows almost everyday and it is painfully hard or more like impossible to keep in touch with everything.But some people want to watch a lot of things and since there are so many things to watch, people want to get over with the previous shows as soon as possible and move on to the next one and this exactly what these major streaming services want,to keep you intact as long as possible because they want that watch-time to increase.And hence begins the long cycle of Binge that traps you into the Oblivion,completely unaware of your surroundings and happenings,stuck in one place without moving for consecutive hours.
              As Wikipedia states,Research conducted at the University of Texas at Austin found binge watching television is correlated with depression, loneliness, self-regulation deficiency, and obesity. "Even though some people argue that binge-watching is a harmless addiction, findings from our study suggest that binge-watching should no longer be viewed this way," the authors conclude.Research published by media scholar, Dr. Anne Sweet, PhD, underlines that binge-watching is a form of compulsive consumption, similar to binge-eating, or binge-drinking, and that due to its addictive aspects, it could even represent a form of TV addiction.These findings were problematized by Pittman and Steiner (2019), who found that "the degree to which an individual pays attention to a show may either increase or decrease subsequent regret, depending on the motivation for binge-watching."
A recent study also linked Binge-watching to poor sleep quality,increased insomnia and fatigue.Binge-Watching before sleeping increases cognitive alertness,hence impacting sleep.
               So do I hate Binge-Watching and is this a Hit-Piece against it?No. In fact I actually like Binge-watching as it removes the weekly constrain of viewing and gives us the ability to watch our favorite shows whenever we want and how ever we want. In fact I like weekly structure too and it is also not hectic.I think the question here is about balance,time management and self-control.TV shows and Web-Series are made to entertain us and make us feel fresher but obsessing over it is just bad for a persons health,both physically and mentally.People should binge in control and should avoid making it a regular thing.Longer Binges should be even more limited and consistent breaks should be taken.The thought process that people have of finishing a show as soon as possible should be stopped as it only makes your life more hectic and people should understand shows are made to enjoy and not to rush through.To me personally, two episodes per day with an occasional third is just fine since I start feeling tired and I feel like stretching my body.People should accept that they cannot watch everything all at once.