Couch Potatoes
The coronavirus pandemic and the cold winter have forced many people to remain cooped up at home and binging on Netflix and other streaming services.
But scientists warned that watching too many episodes or movies – or doing a TV marathon – is a sign of poor impulse control and similar to other addictive activities, Cosmos Magazine reported.
Researchers at Poland’s Jagiellonian University surveyed a group of 645 people between the ages of 18 and 30, who admitted to watching at least two episodes of a TV show in one sitting.
The team wrote in their paper that they were trying to measure the individuals’ motivations, impulsivity and emotional regulation for their binge-watching.
Lead author Jolanta Starosta explained the results showed that “motivational factors were stronger predictors of problematic binge-watching than personal predispositions, such as impulsivity.”
She noted that most binge-watchers experienced feelings of loneliness, boredom or a wish to be entertained.
While most participants would watch between two to five episodes, about 20 percent of them said they could watch between six to 20 episodes in one go.
“It may be related to the fact that problematic binge-watchers engage in marathoning TV series mainly because they want to escape their daily life problems and regulate emotions, but decide to continue watching … because of more entertaining reasons,” added Starosta.
Even so, the authors noted that studying binge-watching in other nationalities and age groups could unveil more about the unhealthy habit.
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