Binge culture, the long-term relationship we all have with our Netflix (or other) subscriptions. So much has changed over the last few years when it comes to watching tv shows and movies online. I have noticed it for myself and the way I consume TV and film, and also books.

What I love about online streaming is how accessible and stress-free it is. In saying that, streaming online can also be the absolute worst! Today I’m sharing the pros and cons of binge culture and online streaming. This post is, as always, based on my own experiences. If you’re curious to learn more, stay a while, and keep reading.

The pros of binge-watching

First and foremost is the social connection. When there’s a whole community on Tumblr, on Instagram, on Twitter watching the same TV shows at you (often at the same time as you too), you find new opportunities for friendship and discussion.

People bond over characters they love, stories they hate, and themes and motifs that were cleverly-hidden. This way, you also broaden your knowledge by experiencing other’s views that you might not have experienced from people living in the same neighbourhood or city as you.

You also pay more attention when you watch everything in one sitting. And I have a great example of this. When I first started watching “Star Trek: Discovery” the episodes were streaming weekly. I noticed I wasn’t focusing on the story and understand what was happening when I was viewing it in pieces instead of as a whole.

So, when I re-watched the series months later, I decided to binge it during my evenings. I could see the whole picture and immerse myself in the story and its fictional world much easier because of all its science fiction jargon and wide fictional world. This way, the show was much more enjoyable compared to my initial opinion of it.

Similarly, when you binge-watch instead of view content week by week, you have complete control over when you want to watch a show. Whether it be crammed into the evenings like me or spread out over the weekend for much longer hours. Or, even if you want to watch week by week at your own leisure. It has the same as recording TV episodes to me. You don’t have to worry about missing out or falling behind.

The cons of binge culture

While I said that the social media aspect of binge-watching is a good one, it also has its bad sides, which I’ve experienced a lot for myself. When everyone is watching and creating social media posts – spoilers, analyses, gif-sets, and more – there is a sense of a race. Like you have to watch the episode(s) quickly before getting spoilers.

This way, you don’t enjoy media, and you absorb it for the sake of saying you watched it. This happened a lot when “Game of Thrones” was popular. It’s also currently happening with “The Mandalorian”. This time, though, I’m smarter than I was a few years ago. Now, I just avoid social media as much as possible to avoid those spoilers!

More important is how binge-watching can affect your health. Such as staying up at late hours of the night…Into the morning to finish a few episodes. Doing so can cause sleep deprivation, which then leads to headaches and fatigue the next morning. It literally is another kind of hangover.

At least to me, who gets terrible headaches if I don’t get enough sleep or if my sleep cycle breaks dramatically like this. Not to mention, when we sit in bed and watch tv all day, we’re losing time when we could be doing other activities. For example, exercise, or cleaning, or any tasks you need to do.

And watching a tv show is very much like reading a book – there is always that sense of unease and unhappiness with the ending of something. You invest so much time, energy, and often emotion into it only to be a little bit disappointed in the end or left with a cliff-hanger.

How often do tv shows have satisfying endings, though? It creates a sense of absentmindedness after you finish something. And when you don’t have something new lined up to watch, it can make you a little anxious. What’s also weird is if you also have TOO much on your “watch-list” it can also make you even more anxious.

I feel like adding this in as well. With tv streaming services (like Netflix), there are very subtle ways in which the platform tries to get you to keep watching more. Such as the very short pauses between episodes that don’t always give you a chance to exit the page. Or the way you finish one tv show or film, and instantly you’re shown the trailer of a new one, or the first episode of another starts loading automatically. The method of deleting things from your “watch list” is also not very streamlined or easy.

So…This is my love/hate relationship with binge culture and online streaming. From a personal standpoint, binge-watching has its perks but it also has its flaws. I think the important thing is trying to find a balance between them. Knowing yourself enough to not fall into a way where you’re antisocial or losing sleep or getting upset over it, and where you feel more relaxed and happy when you start the episode AND when you’ve turned it off.

The whole point of places like Netflix, or Hulu, or Disney + is to give you control over what you watch, and how you watch. So, we need to – at least I know I need to – work better at taking back that control when it comes to streaming films and tv shows.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Don’t forget to leave a ‘like’ and check out the related posts! Have a nice day!

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