Binge-Watching: How Our TV Habits Shape Our Brains and Mental Health
- Melisa Kose
- 40 minutes ago
- 7 min read
Streaming services have dominated the television and film distribution space over the last decade. With its rise, streaming powerhouses like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+ brought with them a novel release method: entire seasons aired on the same day, at the same time.
Despite how commonplace it feels today, it was only in 2013 with Netflix's House of Cards and later Orange is the New Black that whole-season same-day digital releases became the new exciting way to publish shows. Now, twelve years on, the novelty is wearing off, and audiences and creators alike are noticing the flaws in the system and the impact it's had on their media engagement and enjoyment.
I'm Melisa Kose, a neuropsychiatry PhD student at King's College London, and if you know anything about me beyond that, it’s how much I love to talk about television, cinema, their creation, and their impact. Frankly, it's all I talk about, outside of my research, if the articles I've written for Inspire the Mind over the past six years are anything to go by. In this piece, I want to talk about trends I've noticed in binge-watching culture and the psychology behind how we watch and talk about entertainment.
The cultural shift away from week-to-week waiting for the next episode to consuming entire seasons in one sitting brings with it psychological consequences – from changes in mental wellbeing to how our brains process building narratives. So, what are the trade-offs, the epic highs and lows, of binge-watching vs. traditional weekly viewing?
The Dopamine Highs & Depression Lows
From a neuroscience perspective, binge-watching taps into the brain's reward system, particularly the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine affects a range of functions, including movement, coordination, cognition, and most notably, pleasure. Simply put, when you do something that you like, your brain releases a rush of dopamine. This “feel-good” chemical reinforces behaviours that give us pleasure to encourage us to do them more. This mechanism is exactly what drives us to click “Next Episode” every time the credits roll. It feels good, so why not watch another?
Dopamine is closely tied to addiction behaviours. The more you watch to satisfy that craving of “just one more episode, then I’m done”, the more the craving grows—mirroring what we see in addictions. This is exactly what makes it so tough to put the remote down, even when there are errands to be run, schoolwork to be studied, and sleep to be slept. Of course, we should be conscious of how we use the word “addiction” in this context, lest we trivialise the disorder.
A systematic review published in 2020 found that “excessive forms of binge-watching can involve symptoms of addiction, such as lack of control, negative health and social effects, feeling of guilt, and neglect of duties”. There also seems to be a distinction between unproblematic and problematic binge-watching, measured by how much it is impacting your daily routine (e.g., sleep, eating, work, school) and the motivations behind it (e.g., as procrastination and avoidance or social connection and curiosity).
As it stands, though, the definition of “binge-watching” is, expectedly, broad—it is not meant to describe a disorder, despite the use of “binge” in the name, but rather to merely indicate watching at least two episodes in one sitting.
Paralleling the effects we’re noticing with spending hours mindlessly swiping on TikTok (or whatever your short-form video sharing app of choice is), binge-watching is significantly impacting our attention spans. Over time, engagement with content that doesn’t offer immediate satisfaction or resolution—like the couple you want to see together doesn’t come together right away, or the antagonist isn’t defeated quickly—can feel frustrating. Even though changing stories to prioritise audience retention over building solid narratives could be to the detriment of the series, audiences, particularly those hyper-active on social media, seem to be far less patient than they were only a decade ago. This can mean producers are incentivised to push writers to wrap up storylines before they are ready and scrap character development in favour of attention-grabbing quick hits. The quick death of the slow-burn storytelling we used to see more of with 20+ episode seasons.
Furthermore, results from a survey found that binge-watching was also associated with poorer sleep, avoiding thinking about real-life problems, and a way of easing an upsetting emotional state. Likewise, the phrase “post-binge-watching blues” has gained traction over the years to describe the depression-like mood following the end of a “binge” that some individuals experience. Particularly, it is individuals with excessive binge-watching behaviour (i.e., skipping meals, sleep, daily tasks, work) who report experiencing low mood, feeling lost, and guilt about perceived misuse of their time.
The current state of research suggests that motivations behind binge-watching (i.e., the reasons one does it) are the biggest determinant of how such viewing habits will impact your mental health. Those binge-watching socially and out of curiosity typically report more positive outcomes, whereas those doing so for escapism and avoidance tend to experience more negative outcomes. Particularly in my teens, I certainly turned to the nearest comfort show, watching for hours on end until I was tired enough to sleep. It was a way for me to escape; if I was busy worrying about what happens next in the fictional characters' lives, I wouldn’t have to think about my own. Nowadays, I try to make any marathon or "binge-watch" a social thing—I've hosted so many movie nights this year alone that I think I might have accidentally made myself incapable of watching a series or film alone, without having someone to gush about it with after...
Interestingly, it’s been shown that in some people who self-identify as binge-watchers, despite their acknowledgement of binge-watching as an addictive behaviour, they denied that they themselves were addicted. This is in spite of admitting that their watching behaviours impact their daily routines.
During my early teens, half my lifetime ago now, I remember staying up late to watch the latest episode of Supernatural or Glee or The Vampire Diaries (because the only way to watch the actual day it aired, instead of months later when it officially aired in the UK, was through shady livestreams of American channels at 1 AM). I'd be antsy with excitement to get to school in the morning, just so that I could talk with my friends all about what had happened. In our frantic, and I’m sure incoherent to anyone overhearing, talking over one another during lunch, we’d discuss theories and hopes for what should come next. Of course, the world and I have both changed since those high school days – but so has the way we discuss media.
Now, with shows that release seasons in one go, it feels harder to be on the same page. For some, since eight episodes at once is a far greater commitment than one, they’ll avoid it for months. Others will watch it all in one sitting, only to have few to none to discuss episodes with. And some will simply take their time with it. None of these are inherently incorrect ways to engage with a show, but it does affect the overall conversation surrounding it.
Where the weekly format allows audiences to spend more time carefully considering details and choices made in individual episodes, bulk releases favour discussions of the overall season, often with greater focus on the finale – less about the journey, and more about the destination.
In an age where social media metrics define the success of a show almost as much as ratings from critics, Netflix and its competitor channels are remembering how useful sustained engagement rather than a short-term spike is. Fandom engagement is practically free promotion for productions, and so not only does it serve the story to be built steadily, but it also serves the networks to keep audiences talking about their shows and coming back week after week. So surely, weekly release is superior!
Personally, yes, I would say so. Weekly release is better in my opinion. However, from a business standpoint, there are still plenty of positives that outweigh the considerations I've discussed. The binge model enables increased subscriber acquisition and a spike in viewership over a shorter period, which looks great in headlines. The binge model continues to work wonders for Netflix; the company reported $3.13 billion in profit for the latest quarter alone. It also means there's a reduced risk of negative buzz; the longer audiences have between episodes, the more likely they are to discuss things they don't like. Poor feedback can affect the show’s overall perception and cause fewer viewers to tune back each week.
So, is there a definitive answer to which is better: binge-watching or weekly episodes? Nope, and it depends on who you ask. Writers and creatives would probably prefer the weekly release structure for the freedom it gives them to pace their stories as they like, whereas studios and publishers would prefer the bulk release for the instant gratification of metric spikes. As a neuroscientist and TV/film enthusiast, I can’t help but notice the mental health effects as well as the media literacy effects that binge-watching culture has had on audiences. But there are absolutely positive aspects to binge-watching, including convenience, increased sociability, and satisfaction. The positive and negative outcomes are not mutually exclusive.
Although I think a mix of both is perfect, I can’t deny how much more fun watching a series feels when there's the anticipation of “what happens next?” inspiring discussion and theories amongst fans. But trust that I’ll also be binge-watching the final season of Stranger Things when it drops later this year.
Research has suggested that watching with intentionality is a good protectant from the negative effects of binge-watching. Rather than letting the hours simply pass you by, as you watch episode after episode, be honestly mindful of the time you are spending and why you are spending it this way. As with any form of entertainment, it is our responsibility to ensure our engagement is considerate of our well-being and mental health.