I think we all have had a T.V. marathon at least a few times in our lives, and for some of us it has become a bit of a habit. I mean who doesn’t love curling up in bed with your favorite blanket while you binge watch your most recent favorite T.V. show. Don’t forget the Ben & Jerry’s! Anyway, what exactly is considered a "binge" when watching Netflix? A few episodes? A whole season? Where do we draw the line?
This week I think I have binge watched more episodes of Netflix than I have seen all semester. How much did I watch you ask? I am not sure you are prepared for this, but one day I watched twelve hours of Supernatural. Combined for the whole week I have watched probably around forty hours of Supernatural. Yes, I know, that is a lot of T.V. Personally, I don’t know how it happened. I just didn’t have a lot of homework this week and I ended up staying up till 1 a.m. three nights in a row watching it. When I realized how much time I was wasting, it hit me like a brick wall.
I feel like I should mention that it was not 12 straight hours, but nonetheless that was most of my day and then some. Now, of course a binge like that cannot be done without some notable side effects. One thing I noticed when I went to dinner with some friends is that my thought process was considerably slower than normal. On top of that my eyes were having a hard time staying focused on one thing for very long and my head ached with a dull throb. My friends could tell there was something up and when I explained, they all were aghast, mostly at how I had the time to do so. What can I say, I had no homework and very little impulse control.
The thing that bothered me the most was how noticeably slower my thought process was during this time. I could literally feel my brain being sucked dry by the hours upon hours of mindless staring at the screen. At first I thought Supernatural was to blame, after all it is a very interesting series to say the least. And I didn’t even have to click the next button, Netflix did it for me. All I had to do was relax in my bed and watch the drama unfold before me.
I learned through this several different things. Number one: I have a problem with self-control. You might be thinking, yeah no kidding, but I honestly didn’t think I had a problem with it until now. Two: I was using it as a means to escape my depression, when really I think it was only furthering it. When I watch Netflix, I don’t have to think and that means I don’t have to worry about all of my problems and continue to feel sorry for myself. It was an escape, and I took it. Three: I was missing out on life. Yes, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Netflix and the occasional binge is not a bad thing, but I spent most of my week in front of a screen. Who knows what conversations I missed out on or what opportunities I let fly by. We are not here to escape life, but rather to live it. Yes, I am a firm believer in living vicariously through the lives of others, but at some point, you need to go outside and live your own life.
So go out there and do something worth it. Write a letter to someone (seriously how special does it feel when you get a letter?), go on a walk in the out of doors, call your mom and maybe watch a few episodes on Netflix because life is all about balance.
