The next time you load up Netflix for a weekend of binge-watching, think again -- it could make you miserable.
That's according to new research from the University of Toledo, which describes binge-watching as "a growing public health concern that needs to be addressed".
The team recruited 400 adult participants via crowdsourcing marketplace Mechanical Turk and asked them to complete a survey about their TV viewing habits. They then screened the results for potential TV addiction.
Out of the 400 surveyed, 77 percent watched two or more hours of TV a day on average and 35 percent described themselves as "binge-watchers". And binge-watching had a positive correlation with poor mental and physical wellbeing.
It's not the first study to find a link between low mood and binge-watching -- a study reported at the 2015 Annual Conference of the International Communication Association found that people with depression or high levels of loneliness were more likely to binge-watch. "Even though some people argue that binge-watching is a harmless addiction, findings from our study suggest that binge-watching should no longer be viewed this way," said Yoon Hi Sung, a doctoral student at University of Texas, who worked on the 2015 research. "Physical fatigue and problems such as obesity and other health problems are related to binge-watching and they are a cause for concern." "When binge-watching becomes rampant, viewers may start to neglect their work and their relationships with others," he continued. "Even though people know they should not, they have difficulty resisting the desire to watch episodes continuously. Our research is a step toward exploring binge-watching as an important media and social phenomenon."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
