The Science Behind Binge-Watching: Why Your Brain is Hooked on the Habit Loop

You’re tucked in your blankets, the glow of the screen reflecting the excitement of a brand-new series you just started. With every episode, the plot tightens its grip, pulling you deeper until you’re unable to stop. As the “Next Episode” timer counts down for the tenth time, you think to yourself, “Isn’t this what life is all about?” before surrendering, clicking to watch yet another hour-long episode. But the “comfort” doesn't last long. 
The rays of the sun come floating in as the smooth cruise is now tossed in a storm, making you feel confused, exhausted, and drowning in a post-binge fog. This is the dire consequence of binge-watching.

What is binge-watching?

Think of binge-watching as an all-you-can-eat buffet of the digital world. Unlike the older times, when watching TV was like receiving a single piece of candy once a week. You had to wait, anticipate, and savour it. Today, however, OTT platforms and digital media have essentially handed us the keys to the candy factory.

In technical terms, “binge-watching” is defined as watching two to six episodes of the same show in one sitting. It's essentially an internal negotiation where you convince yourself that watching a 45-minute episode at 11 on a weeknight is a good idea.

Why do we binge-watch?

The easiest answer as to why people binge-watch shows would be for entertainment. When you watch a show you enjoy, your brain releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter that signals pleasure. This chemical creates an almost “drug-like” high that tells your body, “This feels good, keep doing it!”

Even after completing shows, your brain still craves that same dopamine it experienced. It begins to crave this constant stimulation, making the act of stopping feel like a block/crash.  And thus begins the never-ending loop of binge-watching.

Then, of course, the ‘cliff hangers’, our brain hates unfinished tasks, seeking closure. Shows often use cliffhangers to incite viewers to keep on watching. This phenomenon is called the Zeigarnik Effect. It is the tendency where one remembers unfinished or interrupted tasks over completed ones, creating an open loop that keeps the incomplete task in our minds until resolved, hence why we find it physically necessary to keep on watching what happens next to relieve ourselves from tension and complete the task at hand.

Sometimes you also feel helpless as you become so immersed in a show. This is called narrative transport, where one finds oneself completely absorbed in a story; one's attention, emotion, and mental imagery become focused on the narrative world. 
You become so engrossed in the fictional world that you lose track of time and your own surroundings. You form “one-sided” bonds with the characters because you feel like you’re spending your time on them, often leading to a feeling of post-binge depression.

Autoplay is also a wicked feature used by OTT platforms to ensure you keep on watching. By immediately starting the next episode in 5 seconds, giving you no time for you to stop and make a decision to go forward with another episode.
You have to actively go out of your way to stop the show. So even if binge-watching is affecting your brain, you can't help but continue feeling a sense of urgency to know the conclusion of the show.

Effects of binge-watching

While binge-watching might feel like a “passive” activity, your brain is actually working overtime. From chemical surges to structural changes, the effects of binge-watching on the brain are both immediate and long-lasting.

As discussed before, your brain releases a flood of dopamine during a binge. However, the brain is an expert at balance. To protect itself from “overheating” with too much pleasure, it begins to downregulate its receptors. 
Over time, you need more episodes to feel the same level of excitement. This is why you might feel “bored” or “empty” when you aren't watching something, a sign of digital addiction.

It's also been concluded by research from Johns Hopkins that excessive long-term TV viewing can physically alter your brain chemistry. Long-time viewers have shown a reduction in gray matter volume in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision-making and building focus. 
It is also observed that memories of binge-watched shows seem to decay much faster than a weekly-based show. Your brain doesn't have the downtime needed to consolidate this much information into long-term storage.

Binge-watching also affects your sleep as the arousal created by binging makes it harder to reach REM sleep (the restorative stage). You might sleep for 8 hours, but still wake up with a feeling of brain fog.

In younger adults and adolescents, excessive screen time has been linked to thinking of the cerebral cortex. Since this part of the brain processes sensory information, it can lead to shorter attention span, increased irritability, and difficulty with complex problem-solving in real-life scenarios.

Is binge-watching good for mental health?

Most people seek binge-watching as a way to escape reality. By immersing oneself in a fictional world, one effectively shuts the door on real-world stressors. It might be a great short-term solution. Chronicity can cause you to avoid underlying issues. Binge-watching basically becomes an avoidant coping for you. This prevents the brain from processing real emotions, causing your mental health to suffer.

Loneliness and binge-watching do not really have a significant connection, but they do share a relationship. We often form “parasocial relationships” with characters, feeling like they are our friend. 
Long-term bingeing often replaces face-to-face interactions. Studies have shown “problematic binge-watchers” often feel more isolated after a session of binge-watching because they have purposefully neglected their real-world connections.

There is also a sense of guilt post-binge. You feel helpless with the lack of control you have and feel depressed after a show ends due to the sudden drop in dopamine and the realization of so much time being wasted.

Bingeing also affects your mental health by causing emotional dysregulation. People struggle to manage their emotions and are more likely to use binge-watching as an external regulator. This weakens the brain’s internal ability to self-soothe.

How to stop this addiction?

As our brain gushes after the dopamine rush it feels during bingeing. We start to crave it even more as time progresses. Feeling the need to watch the newest show and keep ourselves at ease. This creates the perfect path to addiction.

We feel helpless and not in control as the episodes progress, even in the digital aspect; most of us feel the same way. “Doomscrolling” is just another name for bingeing as you consume 60-second content clips in bulk all at once. 

So, how to stop this digital addiction?

• Cue → Routine → Reward cycle. Stop the autoplay by turning it off so your brain can actively make a decision. Take a break mid-episode when the plot is stable so you don't feel the need to watch the next episode.
• Reset your dopamine - If your brain has grown accustomed to high-intensity dramas, you need to recalibrate. 
  Try digital detox by setting a specific period of time during which you will not use any digital media. Start by keeping a 72-hour fast from streaming and social media. Thus giving your dopamine receptors a chance to regulate.
• Change your environment- Make your bedroom 100% free from gadgets. If you are planning to watch a show, have someone tag along. This makes it a shared activity, making it easy to quit when you feel exhausted.
• Use technology for your advantage- Use the Focus or Digital Well-Being settings on your device to lock specific apps after a certain time of the day.

Your well-being is in your hands. If you do not desire to live a healthy and sustainable life, no one can convince you otherwise. Habits like bingeing start as an innocent activity that soon turns into addiction, one that degrades your mind. It is hence crucial to consume content in moderated, safe amounts.