binge-watch·ing, noun

the practice of watching multiple episodes of a television program in rapid succession, typically by means of DVDs or digital streaming.

Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, HBO Go.

All of these online services make binge-watching possible. Watching one episode turns into watching two, five, 10 even. You somehow lose control. You just keep watching. But why? Why do we binge-watch? With this question in mind, I asked my friends about this pressing issue: Why does watching one episode from your favorite TV show always ends up being five or 10?

In many of the responses I collected (which were not a lot because many of my so-called “friends” failed to answer my whale calls), people thought it was a relatable or hypothetical statement rather than a serious question. I had to tell them that it was a serious, genuine question before I got some response from them. No one seemed to really know the answer even after I clarified it. One of my friends responded with, “Srsly life wonders.” Another pointed at “addict[ive] minds” as the root of the problem. The question still remains unanswered.

So what is the answer?

Perhaps it’s true that people with a binge-watching problem have addictive minds. There is some form of positive reinforcement involved in binge-watching. You continue to watch because of your “addiction” with the TV show. You want to know more or what is next. After all, it’s human nature; curiosity leads you to continue that search for answers. Maybe, it’s not even that you want answers, but rather you simply want to be in the loop. You want to relate to others so you continue watching to do exactly that.

I’m sure that there’s more to binge-watching than just having an addictive mind. There have to be some underlying factors that contribute to the problem. They manage to overtake your life because they end all boredom while encouraging a couch potato lifestyle—which in all honesty is everyone’s ultimate dream! We seek ways that simultaneously entertain us and promote laziness.

So how can we end the binge-watching problem?

There’s been actually a lot of discussion about overcoming the binge-watching problem. A simple Google search on the topic will show thousands of articles about breaking the addiction. Some good ones include: Hsu’s “How to Overcome a Binge-Watching Addiction” and Allan’s “How to Break Your Netflix Binge-Watching Habit.”

The struggle is real. Learn how to stop it before the addiction takes over your life. Identifying that spending hours watching (insert your favorite digital streaming service here) is not healthy is the first step toward stopping the binge-watching problem. Keep strong! You can get through watching one episode a day over the course of a couple of weeks.