| 0s | Surprise, surprise. Premium streaming |
| 2s | services are preying on our |
| 4s | psychological weaknesses, and they know |
| 6s | it. Rather than thinking about them as |
| 8s | part of millennial mating rituals, we |
| 10s | should think of streaming services as |
| 12s | faceless all-consuming algorithms trying |
| 15s | to sell you more of what they've already |
| 17s | gotten you addicted to. You don't just |
| 19s | like The Office. You might actually have |
| 22s | a problem. Crystal, have you ever binge-watched |
| 23s | any of my shows? Nope. Wow. Rude. According to a |
| 30s | |
| 33s | millennials and 88% of those in the Gen Z |
| 36s | category have engaged in binge-watching |
| 39s | a TV series. And according to Netflix, |
| 42s | their users are streaming over a hundred |
| 44s | and forty million hours worth of content |
| 46s | a day. So why is it that we would rather |
| 49s | spend an entire day on our couch |
| 51s | drowning in takeout with the blinds |
| 53s | down watching the new season of Stranger |
| 55s | Things in one sitting, over walking the |
| 58s | dog or doing the laundry or seeing other |
| 61s | human beings? Well, it's 'cause' binge |
| 63s | watching has essentially made you an |
| 65s | addict, and I know that sounds like a |
| 67s | |
| 68s | but it's kind of true. Everyone's gotten |
| 70s | into a fight with their partner over |
| 72s | them, like, watching the show without the |
| 75s | other person. I guarantee you someone is |
| 77s | like, emotionally disturbed enough to |
| 79s | kill over that. And that is literally |
| 81s | front-page [censored]. Netflix and Kill, question mark?! |
| 85s | Clinical psychologists have said that |
| 88s | binge-watching marathons of your |
| 89s | favorite show trigger a release of |
| 91s | dopamine in the brain, and when you're |
| 93s | engaged in any activity that triggers a |
| 96s | release of dopamine, the chemical that |
| 98s | gives the body a natural "high" of sorts, |
| 100s | the brain reinforces and motivates |
| 103s | continued engagement in that activity. |
| 105s | Your brain is telling you not to stop, so |
| 107s | you don't, and that's how experts have |
| 109s | seen people build up something |
| 111s | resembling an addiction to TV shows. The |
| 114s | neural pathways that lead to drug and |
| 115s | sex addiction are the pathways carrying |
| 118s | the same pleasure chemicals throughout |
| 120s | the brain during marathon sessions of TV. |
| 122s | Much like Facebook and Instagram being |
| 125s | designed to prey on our psychological |
| 127s | need for validation from others, |
| 128s | streaming services have found a way to |
| 130s | exploit our psychological need to |
| 133s | complete things. Humans seriously |
| 135s | struggle with unresolved storylines or |
| 137s | communications, which is the driving |
| 139s | force behind what makes us want to |
| 141s | finish a book we didn't like reading, a |
| 143s | long saga of movies that haven't been |
| 145s | good since the first installment, or a TV |
| 148s | series, which explains why the entire |
| 150s | internet complained about Game of |
| 152s | Thrones during the entire eighth season, |
| 154s | but couldn't stop watching it, because we |
| 156s | just had to see how it would end. When |
| 158s | you combine that with the fact that our |
| 160s | brains project real emotions onto |
| 162s | characters and events on screen that |
| 164s | we're invested in or identify with, |
| 166s | you're left with a person who is not |
| 168s | only experiencing a mild high, but is now |
| 171s | emotionally immersed in fiction and has |
| 174s | a very real psychological predisposition |
| 177s | and desire to see it end. And that person |
| 180s | will put off living in the real world to |
| 182s | see how a pretend one comes to a close, |
| 184s | especially since with streaming |
| 187s | platforms, you're not forced to wait week |
| 189s | and return to your life like you are with |
| 191s | broadcast TV. And all of this coupled |
| 193s | together with the time commitment of |
| 195s | binging ten episodes of your favorite |
| 197s | emotionally manipulating shows |
| 199s | contribute to the reason why you're left |
| 202s | feeling drained after you finish the |
| 204s | latest season. This borders on withdrawal |
| 206s | because your brains level of stimulation |
| 208s | dropped drastically in a matter of |
| 210s | seconds when the credits appeared on |
| 213s | screen. And it won't surprise you that a |
| 215s | study done by the University of Toledo |
| 217s | found that out of 408 participants, |
| 220s | 142 of them self-identified as binge-watchers. |
| 223s | And those 142 binge-watchers |
| 226s | reported higher levels of stress, anxiety, |
| 228s | and depression than the 266 people who |
| 232s | didn't identify as being binge-watchers. |
| 234s | And these streaming platforms know all |
| 237s | of this. That's why the CEO of Netflix, |
| 239s | Reed Hastings, said in a 2017 statement |
| 242s | that their biggest competitor is sleep. |
| 245s | And we have all had that internal |
| 247s | monologue at 3:00 in the morning of, |
| 250s | "Alright, just one more." And that's why |
| 252s | streaming services release full seasons |
| 254s | of shows at once and all the episodes |
| 257s | |
| 259s | because the cliffhangers cause stress |
| 260s | and your brain tells you how to relieve |
| 263s | that stress: just wait that extra five |
| 265s | seconds and click "Skip the Intro". So, in |
| 268s | conclusion, binge watch responsibly. 'Cause |
| 272s | it's not a matter of if you will binge |
| 274s | watch something, it's just a matter of |
| 276s | how long you'll binge watch for. |
| 286s | Hey, it's Lee, and if you want to see more of |
| 287s | these videos or really just any other |
| 289s | videos that VICE makes, click the bell |
| 291s | and then click that Subscribe button. |
| 293s | Your butt's gonna vibrate every time |
| 294s | something gets uploaded to our YouTube |
| 296s | |
