Binge watching promotes relaxation and procrastination

FRESHMAN+KENZIE+GIESE+likes+to+binge+watch+shows+like+Gossip+Girl+and+One+Tree+Hill.+If+you+watch+shows+with+drama+in+them+like+Gossip+Girl+and+One+Tree+Hill%2C...+you+can+learn+things+that+you+can+use+in+everyday+life+like+social+skills+and+how+to+build+relationships+with+people%2C+Giese+said.

Lauren Boettcher

FRESHMAN KENZIE GIESE likes to binge watch shows like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. “If you watch shows with drama in them like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill,… you can learn things that you can use in everyday life like social skills and how to build relationships with people,” Giese said.

Lauren Boettcher, News Editor

Binge watching. It may start with a recommendation from a friend about a TV show they loved, or with selecting a new show from the “recommended for you” section on a streaming site like Netflix or Hulu. The show seems interesting enough, and there’s nothing else to do, so one episode turns into two, maybe two into three, and suddenly the whole season has been watched in a single day.

According to an article by the Huffington Post titled “Half Of All Adult Americans Now Admit To Binge-Watching TV,” more than 55% of the adult population reported this habit, the number were even higher for those under 35, and more than half of millennials reported binge watching shows daily or weekly.

For some students, like junior Moira McCarthy, shows that are appealing to binge on are those that require less mental and emotional involvement.

“Shows of more value that I enjoy such as West Wing or Seinfeld or Arrested Development have never appealed to me to binge on. I prefer to watch those with my dad because it’s more fun to laugh with him, but less addicting shows are the ones I binge on by myself,” McCarthy said.

Binge watching can also be beneficial in more ways than just relaxation.

“There can be other benefits depending on what you watch. If you watch documentary shows about history or events that happened, you can become educated on something. But if you watch shows with drama in them like Gossip Girl or One Tree Hill, you don’t really learn anything academic but you can learn things that you can use in everyday life like social skills and how to build relationships with people,” freshman Kenzie Geise said.

Shows that are binge watched are hard to place in a certain genre, while certain titles might come to mind from personal experience, there are no rules about what can be watched or requirements for how many episodes need to be watched to consider something a binge.

“Some shows can be binged, some make more sense not to, but it’s all about how you want to experience it and what kind of time you have,” junior Andrew Michel said.