Binge watching: “viewing multiple episodes of a television program in rapid succession”, is a phenomenon that television enthusiasts have embraced with the introduction of new technologies like SVOD, streaming video on demand, television consumption platforms unique to the digital age (“binge-watch,” def. 1). Services that offer SVOD such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime are even encouraging binge watching through their marketing practices and content creation (Greenberg). So why is binge watching, or rather binge viewing, an activity that people are participating in under the false assumption that it is a socially unacceptable guilty pleasure; an indulgence, just as eating an exorbitant amount of high-calorie foods is. Is binge watching …show more content…
As long as a balanced lifestyle is maintained, binge watching can be quite healthy. For some people, binge viewing can be a great stress reliever and provide a type of television therapy (Matrix 129). For example, stressed out students regularly rely on binge viewing to immersive themselves in another world for the pleasure of leaving their own stressful lives (Matrix 129). Binge watching provides an escape from the pressures and anxieties of everyday life, giving consumers an outlet to getaway and immerse themselves in an activity, which has dramatically less damaging consequences than other outlets that stressed out individuals use to escape, such as drugs and …show more content…
People have been participating in it for decades and it still has yet to solely create any extreme negative consequences. Binge watching allows people to escape from their world and transport themselves into another. It relieves us of stress, and provides us with aspirations, inspiration, and instant gratification. The practice offers insight into the importance of television as means of communication, and the development of enhanced social connections. Binge viewing can also connect communities, generations, and society as a whole; it doesn’t cause the fragmentation of cultural unification, as some believe. Rather, binge watching unites us all in this newly digitized world and it should be seen as a culturally progressive tool; a tool, which we can use to continue to shape the future of our cultural identity in this space and time today. “Now to just move away from the negative connotations of 'binge ' - maybe 'celebration watching ' would be better” (Giuffre
In the world today watching television is so addictive that everything else looks unattractive. The author argues that television is not lethal as drugs and alcohol but it can have many effects such as children getting more violent and reality seem second best. Every person lives are filled with emotions including anxiety, depression, and stress so after long hard work day the best medicine is to turn the television on and not to worry about anything. For example, I usually drive from site to site to take care of business. So when I return home from work I will sit on my couch and turn the television on and flick the channel until I fall to sleep. As Marie Winn describes, "the television experience allows the participant to blot out the real world and e...
In an article ' The Plug-In Drug ' the author Marie Winn discusses the bad influence of television on today's society. Television is a ' drug ' that interfere with family ritual, destroys human relationships and undermines the family.
Due to this, parents might not want their children to watch any TV shows which contain those elements in order to protect their children from so-called bad culture. This article is facing to the parents who have that similar thought, and offer those parents “a change in the criteria we use to determine what really is cognitive junk food and what is genuinely nourishing” (Johnson, 2005). Most of the TV shows that Johnson uses in this article are familiar and known by the parents, such as 24, Survivor, The Sopranos, Alias etc., it was able to make the explanation much easier, and persuade them to his point. He also suggests that parents should take this as an opportunity but not a crisis, something they force their kids to accept is no longer a smart culture, it is only a sharing from
Steven Johnson and Antonia Peacocke both illustrate their arguments and attitudes toward TV shows and how watching television can affect a persons mind. Johnson compares different television shows to explain how watching TV shows can be healthy for a humans brain while Peacocke focuses around a particular show and how the narrative of the show sends messages to the audience.
Laziness is not a smart or a fun way to live life and watching reruns all day ultimately sounds boring. There are many people who are not only consumed with television, but technology in general. Gary Turk, a well known YouTuber, went viral for his video entitled “Look Up” which was about turning off distractions such as television and cell phones in order to spark a social revolution. Turk touches on the fact that “it’s not likely you’ll make world’s greatest dad when you can’t entertain a child without an iPad”. Gary Turk’s spoken word poem shows the modern version of Barbara Ehrenreich’s fears and allegations of television going too far. The fact that someone had to make a video explaining how technology has monopolized things in our lives and that video went viral is
As many people know modern television produces many good and bad consequences to the viewer. However, as a whole, the positive effects of TV clearly out weight the negative ones. In Barbara Ehrenreich’s passage, The Worst Years of Our Lives, she asserts that what’s being televised, immobilizes the viewer from actually doing the activities portrayed on TV. Yet, all the events on television have been imitated from what is going on in real life. Television is not something that drains a person from everyday activities, but something that encourages them to try new ones and escape the crazy, stressful moments of life. Not only is TV something that exemplifies new hobbies that can be taken on, but it is also a moment where a family can come together and laugh at all those funny moments in Full House and The Simpsons. Lastly, and possibly most importantly it informs people on what’s going on around
Primarily, the domination power television has on its viewers is incomparable to the one drugs have over their addicts. First, addicts to television are not dominated in the same level addicts to drugs are. Hamill says that television absorbs its viewers in the same way drugs absorb their users because both television and drugs cultivate asocial behaviors in people (63, 64). Departing from this idea, it may seem reasonable to say that addicts to television and drugs both portrait unsocial attitudes, but doesn't this happen with any other kind addiction? Here Hamill is isolating a generalization which intention is to proclaim an assumption to be true. In his example, Hamill explains how some Americans fight their loneliness by leaving their TV sets on as companion (63). Instead of support Hamill's idea this example shows how Americans fulfill their vacancy of company rather than how Americans become lonely due to television. Second, independent studies on television do not qualify to determine the relation betwe...
In the argumentative essay “T.V. Addiction” by Marie Winn, Winn relates watching television to having an addiction with drugs and alcohol. The television experience allows us to escape from the real world and enter into a pleasurable and peaceful mental state. When it comes to television, Marie asks the following question: Is there a kind of television viewing that falls into the more serious category of destruction addiction? I believe there is. Why do so many people, instead of doing what they’re supposed to be doing, put everything on hold and just focus on television? I think this is because they want an escape from their problems.
American pop culture has come a long way in the last few decades: from the rock 'n’ roll boom of the fifties, to the hippie aesthetic of the seventies, to the electronic age of the nineties. Pop culture clearly fluctuates at a rapid pace and even though fads have come and gone, one thing has remained viable even in more contemporary times: the TV set. On top of that, never has the world seen a greater peak in technology than it has in recent years, and the television is no exception. Unfortunately, as fascinating as these advancements may sound, it is generally presumed that the television—as with much modern pop culture tech—has had and continues to have detrimental effects on Western culture. Given that the TV has been a predominant force for the last sixty years, it’s safe to assume that most have heard the pervasive statement of how television "rots your brain.” By contrast, the benefits of this technology are rarely discussed and when the topic does arise, it seems to be hastily dismissed as “phooey.” Despite these labels, some would argue that television pop culture not only provides a form of recreational relaxation, but also has the potential to enhance cognitive capabilities.
“Many parents, psychologists and health experts feared that long hours spent watching television led to a number of problems, including: a negative effect on the social and emotional development of children; a reduction in the quality of family life; increasing obesity rates and a direct correlation between violence on television and the aggressive behavior of children in other situations.” (Entertainment). Technology has also brought in video for kids and adults to play, it is also a great way to pass time. Netflix is also a big part of technology’s entertainment, people can sit back and watch movies basically anywhere. One last way is YouTube, kids and adults are always on YouTube for the
The internet is an essential tool in everyday life. The age of a person does not matter, because whether they are a teen, an adult, or an elderly person in order to stay in contact with others they will need the internet. However, the internet is dangerously addictive. Some studies say that the internet is not the addiction, but the means of getting to the addiction. The more believable of the two studies are the ones that discuss the internet being the addiction. Curtis stated in 2012 that reports on the brain are showing that people who excessively use the internet show abnormalities similar to people who suffer from substance addiction. Curtis also stated that internet addiction was becoming
Audience reception is a critical area of focus and research when approaching media audiences. It is dependent on the context of viewing, making media use and media consumption within the home environment and other contexts an interesting area of study. During the 1980s the emergence and increasing use of television increased media research into consumption in an everyday context, addressing the domestic, the family and its contribution to daily life. The importance can be displayed through the centrality of the position of the television and how the arrangement of a living room is commonly based around this. According to David Morely (1986) patterns of television consumption can only be understood through the context of ‘family leisure activity’ (Schroder, Drotner, Kline, Murray, 2003: 8). Therefore in order to discuss whether the aspects within the home environment and other contexts differ in terms of consumption, it is fundamental in exploring family viewing and the patterns of everyday life. With the rise of new media and constant technological developments, media within the home have succumbed to fragmentation. Televisions can be used as an illustration, traditionally located in communal areas to the shift of location in every bedroom, along with the vast amount of channels available, the different platforms we can watch it on and developments that allow catch-up. ‘Furthermore the set has acquired a range of accessories and attachments such as videocassette recorders (VCRs), personal computers and remote controls, which have significantly modified the way it is used (Lee, Becker and Schonbach, 1989: 71). The diverse amount of media platforms available both in and outside our homes has somewhat merged, making it difficult to d...
Whether consciously aware of what is being displayed or not, media plays a substantial role in influencing consumption patterns and lifestyle. Researchers noted television's power to influence even people who are illiterate. Smith-Speck and Roy (2008) explained that even individua...
Imagine someone born in the early 1900’s entering a modern-day classroom. They would likely be confused as to what televisions, computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices are. It is also likely that they would be overwhelmed by the instant access to information that the internet provides. Digital media has become a large part of people’s everyday lives especially with the rise of digital media in classrooms. Digital media is growing so rapidly that people who are not adapting to this shift in culture are falling behind and becoming victims of the “digital divide”, this is leaving people misinformed. Digital media has a large effect on the way that people communicate, this is especially evident in the way that students interact with
Every morning along with my alarm, I am greeted by notifications from the news, social media, and celebrities. Throughout my day I continue to experience literature, news, and social media. Before bed, like countless other teenagers, I like to relax by watching a TV show on the ever-popular streaming website, Netflix. Needless to say, entertainment is always present in today 's society. Entertainment has the capacity to be informative and enjoyable: a source of relaxation and mindless fun. However, it is what we, as members of society, do with entertainment that determines the impact it will have on our society. While it can be beneficial, entertainment does indeed have the capacity to “ruin.” Not only does the broader entertainment industry