The binge-watching (from English binge“to gorge oneself”, and watching“watching”) is that behavior that makes us do real “television marathons” by consuming series or TV programs almost continuously for long periods of time, even for several hours in a row. It seems that the phenomenon was born in 2013, when the streaming platform Netflix began publishing full seasons of TV series. It is characterized by the desire to immediately satisfy our desire to know how the story will end, and to dampen the uncertainty that it causes dissonanceto the point of anxiety and stress. Our brain lends a lot be careful what you leave unfinishedas an evolutionary response to the search for useful information. It can also represent a problem that should not be underestimated, because it can transform into a sort of addiction that impacts the psychophysical balance of people.
Why We Binge Watch: The Neurological Explanation
One of the main reasons why binge watching is so rewarding is the ability to fully immerse yourself in a story. without having to wait. This format allows viewers to follow complex plots and characters continuously, maintaining excitement and interest. Continuous narration can create a sense of suspense and a desire to know what will happen next, making it difficult to stop. We humans are strongly connected to stories, especially to their time and space, and to empathizing with the characters whose stories we follow. The interruption of the narrative arc causes uncertaintyTherefore stress And anxietywith the release of cortisol. If we think about it, an interrupted story is a potential source of denied information, and this evolutionarily explains why the desire to know more has been promoted in us, up to the epilogue.
The phenomenon known as Zeigarnik effect suggests that people focus particularly on incomplete or interrupted tasks and narratives compared to those that have already been completed. This actually means that we are more inclined to actively try to gain the missing information, to provide ourselves with those elements that complete the picture and that provide us with a coherent and complete knowledge of the event we are witnessing, in order to draw possible and useful conclusions.
What Happens in the Brain During Binge Watching
We live in an age where the instant gratification is highly valued. Binge watching satisfies this need by offering immediate access to new content. Not having to wait to see the next episode offers a form of instant gratification that can be extremely satisfying. What happens in our brains when an episode of the series we are passionate about ends is activation of the dopamine circuit of gratification, which pushes us towards reinforcement mechanisms, therefore to want more, and even more. The very idea of being able to anticipate the reward (which in this case is the feeling of satisfaction in knowing what will happen in the next episode) increases the focus on the expected eventthereby increasing expectations and decreasing our ability to judge (“Should I study? It doesn’t matter, it’s late now, I might as well watch another episode”). Classic, right?
The Social Aspect of Binge Watching
The social aspect also plays an important role. Watching a hit TV series can become a social event, allowing people to discuss the plots, characters and developments with friends, family and colleagues. This sense of community and sharing can, on the one hand, enhance the pleasure of watching the series, on the other, put us in an uncomfortable feeling of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), that is, the fear of being “left out” of events that involve our group and our community, risking not taking part in the collective “gossip”, which remains one of the main glues of our social life. An example is the so-called “fear of spoilers”, that is, the fear that by not watching a content immediately we could run into spoilers that would ruin our viewing.
