Click the red play button, and the blue dots circle around the black browser page. Only the glow of the laptop screen illuminates your eager face. You settle into an optimal slouching position. Ah…
Next thing you know, the sun is rising. You tell yourself, “Just one more episode.”
Before you muster up even the slightest bit of self-control, the screen blinks. “Next episode playing in 15 seconds,” it reads. You really don’t have a choice.
Binge-watching provides the feeling of sudden bliss, the inevitable crash and the overwhelming desire to reach that euphoric stage again and again — just one more time — and again. It’s another extension of our “I-want-it-now” culture. Not only do we want it, but we get it, whether we like it or not. And we sure do like it.
Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, HBO Go and online piracy supply our demands, contributing to a growing cultural phenomenon that enables this seemingly shallow and impatient way of consuming media.
It’s not shallow; it’s not impatient; it’s evolution. English 19th-century readers waited each month for the next chapter of “David Copperfield.” American television audiences of the 1950s gathered around each week to watch the new episode of “I Love Lucy.” Now anyone anywhere anytime can binge-watch the entire series of “Breaking Bad” online.
Binge-watching intensifies the viewing experience by enhancing the shows’ continuity and immersive effect. This inspires fans to share their reactions, both immediate and analytical, to season finales on social media platforms, making spoilers rampant. While the shared activity brings people together, spoilers can easily tear them apart.
But really, what is the appropriate wait time before it’s OK to discuss major plot points?
This early anarchical stage of anger and confusion is part of any cultural evolution. Once the World Wide Web explicitly defines the unspoken rules of conduct for binge-watching, Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook will be spoiler-free. We’ve always found ways to adapt to new trends; hopefully we find them soon.
