TV | Viewpoint
“I’ll binge it later” — a millennial’s TV-viewing habits
We are now free from the tyranny of being told when and where to watch what. But this had made one prone to insatiable indulgence.
I was a bit late into the party that is Game of Thrones, despite being told repeatedly how it’s the “best friggin’ show on television.”
I held off as much as I could. That proclamation could only mean one thing for me — it’s “binge-risky” which definitely means foregoing sleep. Which is not an option unless there’s a long break from school around the corner. Alas, when I got started, I ended up finishing the entire show’s current 50 episodes in a matter of two weeks.
We’re in what people in Hollywood another “golden age of television” or more recently, a TV exec had coined it “peak television”. They say some are even better than film. A plethora of high-concept, artistic, and compelling shows only served to enable a somehow functional TV junkie like me.
By the time I was in high school, I’ve grown tired of the tired teleseryes our local TV networks keep making. I simply had my fill of the same old thing over and over again.
So I gobbled up the ‘American’ shows I could get my hands on in cable channels like AXN, Fox, Star World only to discover variety and the so- called ‘genre television.’
And variety meant me wanting to sample everything from crime shows like CSI and the very science-y Bones, to science-fiction fantasy Heroes and even reality shows like Survivor.
I was hooked. Until the media landscape completely changed and the internet took over everyone’s already short attention spans. In a matter of maybe a decade, the way we consume movies and television has changed so drastically, in that my TV-viewing doesn’t even involve a television anymore.
We are now free from the tyranny of being told when and where to watch what. With the options provided by today’s technology, it has become easy to be an insatiable binge-watcher until the sunrise or your conscience puts a stop on things.
Back then it’s called a “marathon” which made it sound like such an adventure. Now, we refer to it as “binge-watching” and rightfully so. It can be akin to “binge-drinking” or “killing spree.” I’m exaggerating. A little.
Too much of anything is a dangerous thing, we heard it said. So much so when you do too much of anything within a short period of time. So before things get out of hand, I started watching my so-called bingeing habits.
Bingeing has its pitfalls, I know it has its time and place. It can definitely be hazardous to one’s health and productivity. I know better than to gorge indiscriminately and to strategize consumption.
In fact, I have everything so carefully mapped out and tracked like a fitness buff would with their diet and exercise. (Needless to say, that comparison doesn’t even make me remotely sound cool)
Through a free online service incorporated on my media center software that automatically scrapes the information the second I start watching, and an app to check in manually when I’m watching in a movie theater, everything I watch and how long is tracked and stored online.
This tool then can give me an overview of my viewing habits for the last 30 days. As shown below, bingeing activity is high on Friday nights and weekends that can last up to 3 and a half hours.
Now that I have bored you with the technical-nerdy mumbo jumbo, let’s go back to the point I was making.
I was sure there was a point.
Ah yes. Bingeing.
To some, it’s an occasional indulgement but to me, it is also relevant escapism.
Entertainment is just a form of escapism; to catch a break from life’s daily routine. I just don’t want my escape to be inane and fruitless. I’d rather just sleep. So If I have to hold off until I can consume them all, then so be it.
The ever growing pile of good shows out there make it seem like I could never keep up. It piles and it piles like the books I’ll never read.
But I learned I don’t have to. I learned it’s not going anywhere. (Unless of course I am, in which case that means I died. That would be a shame)
So when a friend would ask me if I saw (insert show here)’s latest episode on a hectic school day, I just say I’ll binge it later, when I don’t have to feel bad about it. ■ AH Online / The Culture Review
(Editor’s Note: An early version of this article was first published in Veritatem Magazine, November 2015.)
