Inform your opinion: The pros and cons of binge-watching
A scene from the season 1 of Silo on Apple TV. Photo / Supplied
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The Batman TV series that ran from 1966 to 1968 had a unique structure. Each episode was in two parts with a cliffhanger at the end of the first. Broadcasters wanting to show the series had to agree to show the parts on separate nights.
Were the bosses of the taxpayer-funded, government-run, publicly owned NZBC going to allow some Hollywood types to tell them how to run their TV programming? They were not. They would either show the two episodes together or not at all. So not at all it was, and New Zealand fans missed out altogether on the 60s TV classic.
Some 60 years later, the powers that be at the NZBC’s successor TVNZ, are keen to do anything it takes to get eyes on their network. Accordingly, you can now binge-watch shows on the state-owned broadcaster.
Binge-watching as we know it today was born in 2013 with the advent of Netflix and the practice of making new series available for viewing all at once. It is the viewing preference for many.
When Netflix surveyed its audience it found 73% of people have positive feelings when they binge-watch. How many years of study went into producing this shock result – people enjoy something that they choose to do – is not recorded.
Bingeing carries unfortunate connotations of gluttony and lack of self-control. You may prefer the term “marathon viewing”, which has a whiff of healthy activity and, according to Wikipedia, “places more emphasis on stamina and less on self-indulgence,” thus proving it is possible to be holier than thou about absolutely anything.
Bingeing works on basic behavioural psychology, the same thing that makes your dog fetch that ball over and over again, although not necessarily as entertaining. There are studies purporting to show it releases pleasure-giving dopamine.
We love bingeing for many reasons, not least because it gives the illusion of control. It’s not indulgence. It’s really all about time management in our super-efficient lives. We decide not only what we watch but how much – which often turns out to be many hours at a time. But that’s our choice.
Ironically this willingness to devote swathes of our leisure time to a single story on screen has been accompanied by a drop in the willingness of those who read for pleasure to engage with any more than the roughly 75,000 words of the standard novel.