Binge Watching

Posted on Oct 22, 2014 | 0 comments

Are you binge watching yet?

My family is!

What is binge watching?

Binge watching is a newer term referring to viewing episodes of one television show uninterruptedly until fatigue, nagging self-control or other engagements ends the watching time. It is considered binge-watching if you view between 2-6 episodes of the same show consecutively.

How is binge watching possible?

Thanks to services like Netflix, Roku, Amazon who all provide streaming video of both movies and tv episodes. You can watch what you want, when you want to.

We use the Roku regularly and love it. It gets Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, any of the pay stations you would like and many more.

Here’s why I like binge watching.

Control!

As a parent: it is great for the kids. I can control which shows come up and the best part – NO ADS!! The advertisers have gotten a little over the top with the marketing to kids via TV ads. With the Roku, Netflix and Amazon, they get a wide range of choices without the hassle of the ads.

As a wife/mother: we can watch 2 or 3 episodes of a show without ads or ‘waiting’ to see what happens! A much better way to watch TV!

How much binge watching is safe?

I really do not think that watching more than an hour and a half of TV is great for you, but I don’t think it will kill you either.

As with all things you must have balance, so just be sure to get enough sleep, enough outside and exercise time, enough family time and to eat well.

The rule for my children is either a movie or 2 episodes of a show we all agree upon a day. There are days where we don’t even turn the tv on and there are days when it may have been on a bit longer than just 2 episodes, but generally they will watch 2 episode whist I make dinner and that is it.

For us, we commonly will watch 2 episodes of whatever show we are watching and be tired. But there have been a few nights where it has been so good we have watched up to 4 episodes!

If you are watching more than 2 episodes at a time (I hope this is only for adults, it is not great for kids to sit inside for too long!) here are some

Binge watching tips –

Make sure to get up and move around while the show is loading. Or if you love the music, get up and dance to the theme song in the beginning! Get your blood moving to keep yourself more alert.

Eat something! Studies show that you will have better willpower if you have eaten.

Disable the auto play. This way you will have to press the button to make it start again, hopefully making yourself decide if it is time to shut it off!

If it is at night, you can preschedule your wireless router to shut off at a certain time, making you get some much needed sleep!

Life is so wonderful and as entertaining as it can be to watch some else’s from the sidelines, don’t miss out on your own.

Please be a balanced #bingewatcher and be sure to get enough #exercise #sleep #healthy #food http://t.co/sbSkzJSL5p

— Malibu Mama Loves (@MalibuMamaLoves) October 22, 2014