The Pros And Cons Of Binge-Watching

By Elana Goodwin on January 28, 2015

Today, binge-watching has become a natural way — and perhaps soon will be the most prevalent way — for us to watch TV shows; hell, it’s something we brag about. Being able to say that you binge-watched something over the weekend is an acceptable accomplishment we share with friends and on social media as something to be proud of.

But is binge-watching the best way to watch TV or are there negatives to the phenomenon? Here are some of the pros and cons of binge-watching.

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Pro: You can watch whatever show you want, on your own time, when it’s convenient for you. 

Remember the days when you had to wait a whole week and then be glued to the TV at 7:59 p.m. so you could watch your show?

Well, binge-watching lets you watch whatever series you want, whether it’s on the air or off, at whatever hour you decide is convenient. You never have to worry about missing an episode because you’re watching them back-to-back and can easily cue up the next one.

Con: Because binge-watching is happening on your own time at your own speed, you can’t really talk about specific episodes with other people.

People used to gather around the water cooler and talk about last night’s episode of whatever show they watched. But when you binge-watch a series, you’re not in the same place as everyone else, meaning those talks would now contain spoilers.

Even online messaging boards and social media can easily spoil aspects of your show for you as it’s become common to post about an episode and talk about what happened with other people via the Internet.

Pro: With binge-watching, you never have to suffer through a cliffhanger or hiatus but can immediately play the next episode where the season resumes.

Being able to binge-watch means you get a much bigger and faster payoff when it comes to the plot and characters in the TV show. You’re also more likely to pick up on more themes, Easter eggs, and clues to get to understand the big picture much sooner.

Additionally, episodes where it doesn’t seem as if all that much has happened actually become integral pieces to the overall series’ puzzle and are that much better when seen directly after or before other episodes, instead of as a weekly stand-alone episode.

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Con: Watching episodes back-to-back eliminates much of the suspense associated with cliffhangers and blurs the episode’s coherence. 

When you’re binge-watching a TV show, all the episodes seem to run together and so a season’s worth of episodes becomes more of one long episode that then runs into the next.

Episodes were made to stand alone by themselves and give the viewer what to anticipate in the next week’s episode and by binge-watching, you’re getting rid of that episodic integrity and tension.

Pro: Binge-watching gives us the most gratification and satisfaction and the fastest. 

“Experts say TV binging is a lot like other pleasure activities like eating or drinking or sex,” NBC’s Kate Snow said on TODAY. “As you devour the next episode of your favorite show, your mind releases dopamine, the neurotransmitter that causes the feeling of pleasure … while the forebrain provides checks and balances to guard against overindulgence.”

According to studies today, around 80 percent of U.S. adults with Internet access watch TV through subscription services like Netflix or Hulu or other streaming on-demand sources, and 62 percent watch numerous episodes back-to-back.

Con: Binge-watching often doesn’t create as deep a connection to the show as a longer devotion to the series will because you don’t invest as much time in the show.

Because you’re finishing a series much faster and then are completely done with it, you don’t engage in a long-term relationship with the show, but rather a fast, very intense liaison before moving onto your next conquest.

When you invest in a show, week after week, year after year, you form a much deeper connection to the characters and series as you eagerly await each new episode to catch up with the characters you love before saying goodbye for another week or the summer.

Binge-watching forges a more shallow connection in which you “hang out” with the characters for a brief time, all the time, before never seeing them again.

Of course, knowing that there are cons to binge-watching isn’t going to stop me from doing it, and I’ve happily binge-watched numerous TV shows, including “Veronica Mars,” “Scrubs” and “Parks and Recreation.”

And to those of you like me, I say happy binging!

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