Too much television

Binge-watching is common among China's youth. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Chinese youth talk about the dangers of binge-watching

Wang Xiaoyu said that she often finds herself caught between the anxiety of not having enough time to finish all the shows she wants to watch and the delight of being spoilt by so many good television series.

Some days, said Wang, a 21-year-old who works in the fashion industry in Beijing and self-professed binge-watcher, she watches TV from 8 pm until 5 or 6 am, even if she has work the next day.

"I don't do it too often, because the next day I regret it like hell," Wang said. She said she is looking forward to the upcoming Spring Festival holidays so she can catch up on her viewing.

Most people view binge-watching as nothing more than a harmless indulgence, but a recent study by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have led some to reconsider. The study, which prompted heated discussion on Chinese social media in recent weeks, links binge-watching to depression. Based on a survey of 316 people aged 18 to 29, the study found that those who were lonely or depressed were more likely to binge-watch to flee from the reality of their loneliness or depression. The more depressed one was, the more likely he or she would binge-watch to avoid negative feelings.

I just can't stop

Wang said that she was currently binge-watching three TV series: Shameless, an US-produced comedy-drama about a dysfunctional family; Black Mirror, an eerie British speculative fiction series that explores the anxieties of living in a hyper-technologized world, and Monster, a Japanese animated horror-mystery series.

She admitted that she found the anxiety of having to wait for each new episode to come out to be painful. "For a good show, I wait for the new episodes pretty obsessively."

Wang said that when she did finish a season or a series, she'd often feel quite depressed and lost. She gave Sherlock, BBC's modern-day adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic detective novels, as an example.

"I want to keep watching, but unfortunately the season has ended," said Wang. "I find myself constantly wondering how Moriarty [Sherlock's nemesis, who appears to have been killed off at the end of Season 2 but reappears at the end of Season 3] can come back."

Wang admitted that her binge-watching sessions have affected the quality of her sleep and that she consequently often felt lethargic. But she insisted that her habit of binge-watching television was no more than a hobby - without which, she'd just be sitting around and doing nothing.

"Binge-watching isn't anything out of the ordinary," said Wang, who said that many of her friends were guilty of the habit too.

Too much TV bad for you?

Peng Guoqiu, psychologist and head of the psychosomatic medicine department at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chinese PLA General Hospital, said that if people let the habit develop, binge-watching can turn into an addiction which affects a person's mental and physical well-being.

"There are two kinds of situations," said Peng. "It's normal if someone who is very busy during weekdays binge-watches a few episodes every now and then on a weekend because he or she wants to catch up on a TV series they heard is good."

If however, watching television started to affect the rest of a person's life, said Peng, then it was a warning sign. Peng said that he'd treated a number of people, mostly teenagers, who came to him saying that they were addicted to some mystery or action TV series, and were unable to stop watching no matter what they tried.

"[If] someone is just watching TV all the time, primarily to kill time and as an excuse not to socialize, it could be a sign that he or she is suffering from loneliness, anxiety or depression," said Peng, adding that binge-watching could be a way for people to avoid or escape unpleasant realities in their lives.