The Sinister Effect Binging Has Had on Us
Thanks to Taylor Swift, the term, “era” has become a household word. Her Era Tour went viral and boosted the American economy in the summer of 2023. Today, I’m suggesting we are living in a new era. Call it the “binge era.” Past generations never experienced it like we do today.
Growing up decades ago, I was not able to binge on pleasures like we are today. We had to wait and work for items that today we enjoy on-demand. When I was nine years old, for example, I loved watching Batman on television. Each week it came on at 8:05 pm and I stopped whatever I was doing to sit in front of our family TV to watch. Yet, while I loved the show, I couldn’t binge on it. I had to wait an entire week to watch another episode. Today, life is vastly different.
There’s a good chance you spent this past year streaming loads of video. According to market research firm Nielsen, the amount of time people spent each week streaming video rose by nearly 75 percent between 2019 and 2020.
Why Is This Worth Mentioning?
❝Our behaviors and thoughts, when repeated over time, can become actual neural patterns and habits that are hard to break or change.❞
— Danesh A. Alam, MD,
Northwestern Medicine Psychiatrist
Truth be told, binge watching your favorite series can actually produce a "high." When you’re engaged in an activity you enjoy, your brain releases dopamine—a chemical that promotes feelings of pleasure, excitement and happiness. Dopamine helps us feel good, and it results in a “high” similar to those induced by drugs or other substances with addictive qualities. Your brain then craves more, and as long as you continue to binge, your brain produces dopamine. (This was the notion behind my recent article, “Drunk on Dopamine.”)
I decided to dig deeper and discover how our ability to binge on items that produce dopamine affects us. We would assume that because we are a highly educated generation, we’d be able to overcome any negative effects. But, alas, we’re a population of people addicted to something unhealthy. Because we can binge so many elements in our life, we’ve messed with our dopamine levels. And it explains some of our kid’s behavior patterns.
Search the internet and you’ll see what our ability to binge has done to us:
It has lowered our levels of happiness.
It has raised our levels of addiction.
It has reduced our levels of grit.
It can isolate us from others.
It interferes with our sleep.
It has increased our levels of depression.
It has deceased our levels of discipline.
It has expanded our levels of narcissism.
According to a report by Very Well Health, there are potential health consequences as well. Over time, binge-watching can harm your health in ways you may not expect. Among the concerns researchers have raised are decreased physical activity, sleep problems and fatigue, blood clots, heart problems, poor diet, social isolation, behavioral addiction, and cognitive decline. Further, this ability to binge has impacted other areas of our life. Data from the 2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System showed that nearly one in six adults (15.3%) binge drink. A quarter (25%) of this group did so weekly on average, and 25% consumed at least eight drinks during a binge occasion. We can’t seem to say no. Having nearly everything on-demand, instant-access and mostly free has conditioned us and our kids to find it easier to:
Give up on a New Year’s resolution.
Cancel a friendship.
Quit a job.
Walk away from a marriage.
What’s more, we’ve become savvier to justify our decisions to give up. We have terms like boundaries or de-commit or self-care to explain the decision to stop doing what we said we would do. While I recognize that sometimes we need boundaries and we require self-care, they frequently become excuses more than explanations. We become a slave to what we crave.
So, what are we to do to take back control of our lives?
Actions to Take Back Our Lives
1️⃣ Set a limit.
If you’re binge watching a show, limit yourself to 2-3 episodes, then turn off the TV and do something else. If it’s food, give your portions a boundary. Set timers to help you keep your commitment. Make this decision before you begin. Boundaries can be blessings.
2️⃣ Keep the lights turned on.
We’re less apt to lose track of time with the lights on, be it video games, streaming content, or any pleasurable activity. When other items are visible, we can maintain perspective and not get lost in our binge activity. Discipline yourself so someone else doesn’t have to.
3️⃣ Do it together.
Binging is often done alone. Think overeating, pornography or scrolling social media posts. When you make it a social thing with a friend, spouse, or kids, you can chat about the show or the activity. Being together not only helps us maintain perspective but it’s healthy.
4️⃣ Choose your happy chemical.
Our brains offer a few chemicals that provide pleasure in our pain. Dopamine offers a quick hit of pleasure when binging on items like Netflix, TikTok or romance novels. Serotonin kicks in when we’re outside walking or with friends. It’s a slower more lasting satisfaction.
5️⃣ Balance your binge activity with something else.
Whatever you’re prone to binge on, balance it with an equal but opposite activity. Why not watch a streaming show then go outside and interact with real people, face to face. Spend the same number of hours doing both activities. This helps you practice moderation.
Our inclination to binge should make us cringe. Before breaking out of a prison, we must realize we’re locked up. It’s been said, “Sometimes, we motivate ourselves by thinking of what we want to become. Sometimes, we do so by thinking about who we don't ever want to be again.”
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