In Defense Of Binge Watching – You’re Not ‘Lazy’
We’re all guilty of binge-watching TV, but after reading about this defense of binging, is it really all that bad?
By nowproducerdave on May 21, 2018
Sitting on the couch watching TV usually is associated with a “couch potato” lifestyle. These days though, it seems like it happens even more commonly than it used to. Is it still associated with being lazy? Does it make you dumber? One person defends binge-watching, and gives some strong points.
With the rise of Netflix content, binge-watching really seems to be at an all-time high. Netflix drops full seasons of shows, which makes it perfect to binge-watch as soon as they’re released. You have to be up to speed to chat with your co-workers about the latest season of the show on Monday, right? Whether you’re watching “The Walking Dead,” “Stranger Things,” rewatching “Breaking Bad,” or whatever your show of choice is, there are always multiple episodes of something to watch. We’ve all lost track of time and realized that the ice cream we put on the counter has melted and it’s 3am and we have 4 missed calls from our mother. Oh, just me? Oops.
One journalist came to the defense of binge-watching. He says ultimately that it can be good for us. He gives points like “morally complicated characters” and cognitive sophistication. Seriously. “…because television narratives have become increasingly complex, they require viewers to follow more storyline threads and juggle more characters and their relationships. All of this makes the audience more cognitively sophisticated.” See? Seriously! There are a lot of – and I don’t want to say “trends,” but “social issues” that are becoming more of a hot-topic. Those topics are coming into our entertainment. It helps us to relate to the media, form our own opinions, and provide a means for discussion. Shows are getting “smarter,” giving us more clues to look for and deduce conclusions about. It’s almost like solving puzzles in some cases.
They also make the point that it’s good for our own stresses. Getting immersed in a show can help us to de-stress and forget about things that happened in the day that may have been unfavorable. Boss didn’t like your proposal, co-worker was gossiping about you, anything. We can sort of disconnect and forget about that for a while. The journalist does say though that for some people, it still can be bad, but it depends on how we use TV. If we use it as an escape, it seems fine, but if we do it rather than other things that require attention – that’s when it gets bad. Read more about binge-watching here.
