How will we spend the next 700,000 hours of the twenty-first century? There have never been more possibilities for our own amusement in the metered time of our own choosing, nor have they ever been more freely available. We find ourselves wandering the halls of a gigantic sensorium. There is a treasure mine of experiences on the shelves: films, TV series, and so on, all prepared for our consumption.
Binge watching is a relatively new habit that has grown in popularity because of the advent of streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO GO, and others. Because of the proliferation of television programmes covering a wide range of themes, a rising number of young adults are entering the life period known as early adulthood. The most recent evolution of this phenomenon can be approximately dated to 2013, with the premiere of House of Cards, the thirteen episodes of which Netflix released all at the same time.
Fast forward to the 2000s, the next phase of social evolution started beginning with the advent of social media, greater choices and user experience. This begs the important question- To what extent binge watching is affecting the ways young adults interact in society?
So how widespread is binge watching among young adults? According to research by Morning Consult in 2018, 60% of all TV viewers report watching two or more episodes of a show in a row at some point in the week. 45% of young adults have cancelled social plans in order to watch a show. This includes viewing sessions for the 18-to-34 age demographic and among Netflix’s younger users, many of whom binge watch and then take the topic to social media.
Some scholars researched the motivation for binge watching and put together a list of the numerous reasons provided by binge-watchers. One of the primary motivations for binge watching is the building of one-sided, unconscious ties between viewers and characters. These relationships are thought to be one of the most important variables driving binging habits. The idea of “togetherness” as a crucial aspect in understanding youths’ motives for binge watching in the same context. By using internet platforms, viewers obtained a sense of unity in two ways: by connecting with individuals who share their interests in foreign programmes and by re-associating with their home when they are abroad by consuming domestic programmes.
GLOBAL WATER COOLER:
Binge watching is considered as a normal and socially useful behavior among college students and young adult viewers. Binge-watching permits and increases their connection in peer groups and engagement in social discourse, and such viewers are motivated to spend more time doing so in order to discuss the series they are watching with their peers. Other people’s recommendations and criticism on television shows are also social contributing aspects, demonstrating the interactional effect involved.
Netflix and other streaming services acquire and distribute material from all around the world due to their global character. International bingeing material fosters a sense of community around a programme, referred to by academics as a “shared cultural environment.” This common ground enables viewers to converse and enjoy the show with anybody, from a coworker to a stranger in the grocery store line. This shared platform makes it simple to interact with others and share personal perspectives. As a result, a global water cooler phenomena (hanging out near water coolers as a shared space) has emerged. Binge watching together even strengthens love relationships since it is a fun activity that promotes a common interest and gives an easy way to spend time together. “Quality time is fostered if both persons are engaged without interruptions, laughing together, holding hands,” says Heidi McBain, a licensed professional counsellor. According to a research published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, binge-watching can assist long-distance relationships by substituting common activities like going out to dinner together and having similar acquaintances. This is a crucial aspect, which helps young adults develop interpersonal relationships, but the longevity of these relationships are circumspect.
FEAR OF MISSING OUT:
Fear of missing out (FoMo) is a phenomenon in which college students and young viewers fear that if they do not watch a certain show, they will be excluded from cultural and social conversations. The urge to be a part of a cultural debate might lead to binge watching in order to “catch up” or just to be knowledgeable about a programme that has cache in social circles. Avoiding TV plot-line spoilers is a significant difficulty in the age of Netflix and delayed series viewing habits. One of the drawbacks of time-shifted television is that “viewers are compelled to go out of their way to avoid spoilers and must live in exile from water-cooler chatter.” Furthermore, because “the water cooler has been digitised,” that exile now includes Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
ASOCIAL BEHAVIOUR:
For many viewers, binge watching gives them an escape from the day-to-day grind. Cultural anthropologist Grant McCracken, who coordinated with Netflix on a survey, sees a correlation between the rise in binge-viewing habits and our desire to escape a never-ending sea of bite-sized instagram reels and snap stories. So one of the primary motivations for binge watching is escaping your reality in order to achieve momentary psychological comfort, and escapist pleasure is one of the key motives of binge watching. According to Matrix (2014), young viewers expressed escapist enjoyment that was anchored in a sense of inspiration. Younger viewers who engaged in escapist TV gained aspirational maturity as well as a sense of “shutting off the here-and-now and plunging into another realm”. Although earlier forms of escapism like going to the theatre or concert involved some form of social interactions, the trending binge watching escapism is a lonely experience between the individual and his screen. This has reduced social interactions.
Many binge-watchers will pick a night in front of the TV over a night out with friends. According to Brigham Young University research, 56 percent of binge watchers prefer to watch alone, while 98 percent prefer to watch at home. Furthermore, the research shows that social isolation is a risk factor for living a shorter life. Disconnecting from the outer world in order to binge-watch is a sign that things have gotten out of hand.
Heavy binge-watchers were found to displace other activities with binge watching. It would be reasonable to expect that excessive binge watching behavior might come at the cost of spending less time with friends and family. Such a prediction would also be supported by the core tenet of McCombs’ displacement theory: since an individual’s time is a limited resource, participation in mediated communication may come at the expense of community-based communication and vice-versa.
PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIP:
One thing that binge watchers have in common is that they relate to the on-screen characters and talk about them with their friends and online communities. In their study, Tukachinsky and Eyal (2018) demonstrated that binge-watchers actively interact with content on both emotional and cognitive levels. They form deeper, more meaningful ties with the characters onscreen. They keep binge watching because they engage in serious introspection with these characters rather than simply being delighted by them. Research has shown that many people form one-way Para social relationships with fictional characters that mirror aspects of actual social relationships. According to Wheeler (2004), these Para social interactions are more likely to be extensions of, rather than replacements for real social relationships. This is because, if Para social relationships did replace real social relationships, individuals with anxious attachment who are content with their social relationships would have the weakest Para social relationships, but this is not the case. The link between an Individual’s social and Para social relationships is still a matter of research and can being probed further.
Individuals also binge watch TV shows to avoid the feelings of being ‘lonely’ and missing their pals. In their alone time, the video series serves as a companion. Users must be able to relate to the characters in the TV show in order to consider them as a buddy. However, this gets affected when video streaming companies offer a wide range of foreign content, customers will struggle to stay connected to the characters.
CONCLUSION
Young Adults use binge watching as a facilitator for generating a shared social experience, so when they watch multiple episodes, they are more likely to desire to communicate with people who share an interest in the same TV series. Motivations and choice of content are determined by the peer groups and social media engagements, which facilitate social interaction.
Binge watching is here to stay. It is influenced by the social and psychological motives of individuals in our society, as well as elements such as newer and more personalized forms of entertainment media. We must understand that binge watching cannot be either positive or negative, cultural or structural, but an evolving human experience driven and energized by contradiction.
However, it is to be kept in mind that there is a thin line between healthy watching habits and addictive Para social behavior. Besides, the choice of opting out from varied platforms and varied types of experience will keep audiences hooked to their screens. It will have a marked impact on the future of entertainment as perceived by individuals in a society as well as the society as a whole.
Chandni Jain is an Art Director and Product Designer. Can be contacted on Twitter: @ichandnijain and Instagram: @chandnijain.in
