A new study conducted at The University of Texas at Austin shows that there is a direct correlation between binge watching and depression (Gregoire). The media such as reporters, newspaper articles, and even Netflix themselves are all making light of this addictive habit, when really they don’t know how serious it is. Leisure practices of home entertainment are creating a cultural discourse that is normalizing this contemporary practice. This new access to an immense library of TV series and movies is turning addictive practices into common pleasures (Devasagayam).
According to the Oxford Dictionaries, the term ‘binge watching’ originated in the 1990’s on the pattern of binge drinking and binge eating (“Binge-watch”). Binge watching is a little different from the popular trend called ‘marathon-ing’. A marathon could be two things—a certain channel could have a marathon of movies running all day or they could have a marathon of a television show running all day as well. ABC Family does this in December called “The 25 Days of Christmas” and every day they have a certain Christmas movie playing. Another use for the term ‘marathon’ could be watching a show or movie on DVDs with all your friends consecutively. This may sound similar to binge watching—because it is—it’s just the earlier term for binge watching really. An example of this would be if a friend owned all of the Star Wars movies on DVD and you non-stop watched all of them. The term ‘marathon’ connotes a sense of a bunch of friends all huddled around a television watching movies for hours; binge watching connotes a sense of aloneness. Denotatively a marathon is something that you work hard to achieve and when it’s over you feel a sense of accomplishment, binging is doing something in excess and is a disease.
Binge watching is an interesting experience that is becoming extremely popular because of its addictiveness. There are so many options on Netflix to choose from but now Netflix has an option called ‘Max’, which asks a few questions and then picks out something it thinks the viewer may want to watch. Once the viewer finds a show, there is at least one whole season at their disposal and sometimes the shows are so good that one episode after another ends, and eventually the whole season gets finished in one sitting. You don’t even have to press a button to make the next episode play! After one episode ends, the next one will automatically start after fifteen seconds. For us lazy Americans this is very helpful, but not so helpful to stop binge watching. Once this show is finished, the viewer will probably feel really guilty, but also they will feel a sense of emptiness. According to The Odyssey, a student run local news website, there are five steps to recovery when your “post Netflix series depression” occurs. The list reads as follows: Denial and anger, friends and support, sleep, distraction, and replacement (Treganowan). The Odyssey can make light of this so-called “depression”, but it is a very relevant topic in modern culture. On April Fools in 2015, Netflix launched a series of short clips of celebrities from their original shows. These celebrities told the audience to do certain tasks instead of binge watching. For example there was a clip that told viewers to take a shower, or go to bed, hangout with friends, exercise the mind, go to work, do homework, take your dog for a walk, and more. All these clips ended with a screen that read: Binge Responsibly. This is ironic because Netflix is informing their viewers on the dangers of binge watching, yet they are also making a joke out of it.
The appeals of Netflix have made us change our preferences on going out and actually socializing with other humans sometimes. Binge watching has been proved to have a connection to depression and loneliness so that could be the reason why. In the academic article, "The Netflix Effect: Teens, Binge Watching, and On-Demand Digital Media Trends", written by Sidneyeve Matrix from Project Muse, Matrix argues that Netflix and other digital media streaming sites are becoming extremely popular in modern culture. This is true, but she also argues that the effect of this is that people are binge watching shows more and therefore creating a community to share your ideas and thoughts about these shows that people are binge watching (Matrix). Matrix states that these people can chat online with other bingers about current shows, and that’s how they can create a community. This online community is part of the problem; binge watching forces people to be less inclined to go out with friends because all they want to do is watch Netflix, well chatting online doesn’t get people out of the house chatting with real people. The media makes binge watching seem okay, but when a person has to talk online to someone, who probably is as addicted to binge watching, instead of actually communicating with friends outside of the digital world, that’s when there is a problem with binge watching and it’s possibly causing depression.
Works Cited "Binge-watch." Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
Devasagayam, Raj. Media Bingeing: A Qualitative Study of Psychological Influences. Diss. Siena College, 2014. N.p.: Marketing Management Association, 2014.
Print.
Gregoire, Carolyn. "Binge-Watching Netflix Is Making You Feel Lonely And Depressed."The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 31 Jan. 2015. Web. 06 Mar.
2015.
Gwinn, Eric, and Tribune Newspapers. "Netflix." Chicago Tribune. N.p., 21 Mar. 2011.Web. 14 Feb. 2015.
Lawrence, Sarah. "The Paste Guide to Binge-Watching." Pastemagazine.com. N.p., 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Mar. 2015.
Matrix, Sydneyeve. "The Netflix Effect: Teens, Binge Watching, and On-Demand Digital Media Trends." Project MUSE. The University of Winnipeg, 2014. Web. 08
Mar. 2015.
Miller, Liz S. "'House of Cards' Creator Beau Willimon Gets Political About Season 4." Indiewire. N.p., 6 Mar. 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Rutsch, Poncie. "Does Binge-Watching Make Us Depressed? Good Question." NPR. NPR, 4 Feb. 2015. Web. 09 Mar. 2015.
Sharpe-Ross, Kathi. "Binge-watching: The Latest Reinvention of Entertainment Consumption. "The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 29 Dec. 2014. Web. 21
Feb. 2015.
Treganowan, Kathleen. "Post Netflix Series Depression: 5 Steps to Recovery | The Odyssey." The Odyssey. N.p., 05 Aug. 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Wallenstein, Andrew. "Binge-Watching TV Linked to Depression, Loneliness." Variety. N.p., 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.
Professor Strang
CCS 395
16 April 2015
A new study conducted at The University of Texas at Austin shows that there is a direct correlation between binge watching and depression (Gregoire). The media such as reporters, newspaper articles, and even Netflix themselves are all making light of this addictive habit, when really they don’t know how serious it is. Leisure practices of home entertainment are creating a cultural discourse that is normalizing this contemporary practice. This new access to an immense library of TV series and movies is turning addictive practices into common pleasures (Devasagayam).
According to the Oxford Dictionaries, the term ‘binge watching’ originated in the 1990’s on the pattern of binge drinking and binge eating (“Binge-watch”). Binge watching is a little different from the popular trend called ‘marathon-ing’. A marathon could be two things—a certain channel could have a marathon of movies running all day or they could have a marathon of a television show running all day as well. ABC Family does this in December called “The 25 Days of Christmas” and every day they have a certain Christmas movie playing. Another use for the term ‘marathon’ could be watching a show or movie on DVDs with all your friends consecutively. This may sound similar to binge watching—because it is—it’s just the earlier term for binge watching really. An example of this would be if a friend owned all of the Star Wars movies on DVD and you non-stop watched all of them. The term ‘marathon’ connotes a sense of a bunch of friends all huddled around a television watching movies for hours; binge watching connotes a sense of aloneness. Denotatively a marathon is something that you work hard to achieve and when it’s over you feel a sense of accomplishment, binging is doing something in excess and is a disease.
Binge watching is an interesting experience that is becoming extremely popular because of its addictiveness. There are so many options on Netflix to choose from but now Netflix has an option called ‘Max’, which asks a few questions and then picks out something it thinks the viewer may want to watch. Once the viewer finds a show, there is at least one whole season at their disposal and sometimes the shows are so good that one episode after another ends, and eventually the whole season gets finished in one sitting. You don’t even have to press a button to make the next episode play! After one episode ends, the next one will automatically start after fifteen seconds. For us lazy Americans this is very helpful, but not so helpful to stop binge watching. Once this show is finished, the viewer will probably feel really guilty, but also they will feel a sense of emptiness. According to The Odyssey, a student run local news website, there are five steps to recovery when your “post Netflix series depression” occurs. The list reads as follows: Denial and anger, friends and support, sleep, distraction, and replacement (Treganowan). The Odyssey can make light of this so-called “depression”, but it is a very relevant topic in modern culture. On April Fools in 2015, Netflix launched a series of short clips of celebrities from their original shows. These celebrities told the audience to do certain tasks instead of binge watching. For example there was a clip that told viewers to take a shower, or go to bed, hangout with friends, exercise the mind, go to work, do homework, take your dog for a walk, and more. All these clips ended with a screen that read: Binge Responsibly. This is ironic because Netflix is informing their viewers on the dangers of binge watching, yet they are also making a joke out of it.
The appeals of Netflix have made us change our preferences on going out and actually socializing with other humans sometimes. Binge watching has been proved to have a connection to depression and loneliness so that could be the reason why. In the academic article, "The Netflix Effect: Teens, Binge Watching, and On-Demand Digital Media Trends", written by Sidneyeve Matrix from Project Muse, Matrix argues that Netflix and other digital media streaming sites are becoming extremely popular in modern culture. This is true, but she also argues that the effect of this is that people are binge watching shows more and therefore creating a community to share your ideas and thoughts about these shows that people are binge watching (Matrix). Matrix states that these people can chat online with other bingers about current shows, and that’s how they can create a community. This online community is part of the problem; binge watching forces people to be less inclined to go out with friends because all they want to do is watch Netflix, well chatting online doesn’t get people out of the house chatting with real people. The media makes binge watching seem okay, but when a person has to talk online to someone, who probably is as addicted to binge watching, instead of actually communicating with friends outside of the digital world, that’s when there is a problem with binge watching and it’s possibly causing depression.
Works Cited
"Binge-watch." Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
Devasagayam, Raj. Media Bingeing: A Qualitative Study of Psychological Influences. Diss. Siena College, 2014. N.p.: Marketing Management Association, 2014.
Print.
Gregoire, Carolyn. "Binge-Watching Netflix Is Making You Feel Lonely And Depressed."The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 31 Jan. 2015. Web. 06 Mar.
2015.
Gwinn, Eric, and Tribune Newspapers. "Netflix." Chicago Tribune. N.p., 21 Mar. 2011.Web. 14 Feb. 2015.
Lawrence, Sarah. "The Paste Guide to Binge-Watching." Pastemagazine.com. N.p., 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Mar. 2015.
Matrix, Sydneyeve. "The Netflix Effect: Teens, Binge Watching, and On-Demand Digital Media Trends." Project MUSE. The University of Winnipeg, 2014. Web. 08
Mar. 2015.
Miller, Liz S. "'House of Cards' Creator Beau Willimon Gets Political About Season 4." Indiewire. N.p., 6 Mar. 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Rutsch, Poncie. "Does Binge-Watching Make Us Depressed? Good Question." NPR. NPR, 4 Feb. 2015. Web. 09 Mar. 2015.
Sharpe-Ross, Kathi. "Binge-watching: The Latest Reinvention of Entertainment Consumption. "The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 29 Dec. 2014. Web. 21
Feb. 2015.
Treganowan, Kathleen. "Post Netflix Series Depression: 5 Steps to Recovery | The Odyssey." The Odyssey. N.p., 05 Aug. 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Wallenstein, Andrew. "Binge-Watching TV Linked to Depression, Loneliness." Variety. N.p., 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.