12/13/15

Post-Netflix Binge Depression?

Last weekend Matthew Schneier wrote a piece titled The Post-Binge-Watching Blues: A Malady of Our Times in the New York Times, highlighting the new trend of television binge-watching as a result of services such as Netflix and Amazon.  Discussing his own recent viewing habits, he noted:

I felt anxious, wistful, bereft in advance; I’d eaten up nine episodes in only a few days, liking them more than I’d expected to. Once finished, there’d be no more until the next season — if there was a next season, which has still not been officially announced.

He goes on to quote others and concedes that excess watching has been around for awhile.  I think his piece was mostly tongue-in-cheek, but it does discuss the state of affairs for some where television becomes their view on the world, for good and bad.  And one cannot say excess is new.  People have been much the same with books and other things.  For example, ask George R.R. Martin about the continual requests he gets about his next book in his Game of Thrones series.  

With everything else going on in the world, I think this issue as well as too many programs on television is something we will survive.  This is entertainment, folks, and not a death march.  Relax and enjoy the show.  And maybe check out the news from time to time to see what you should really be worried about.

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