Stage One: Innocent Browsing Recently, I got bored and decided to watch a show on Netflix. So, I started browsing the new arrivals and recommendations. It was all innocent and only meant to take up an hour or two of my life.
Stage Two: Getting Ready to Give UpI browsed for a good five minutes without finding anything intriguing. I was perfectly ready to leave the website when, all of a sudden, a TV show caught my eye.
Stage Three: Contemplation
The show seemed interesting but I only needed to fill up an hour or so of boredom. Was getting hooked on a new show a good idea at the time? Spoiler alert: probably not. Alas, I told myself that I’ll only watch the pilot and then I would move on with my life.
Stage Four: The Intrigue GrowsThe pilot was so good. I would have done myself an injustice by not watching more…right? Well I watched another episode. And the next day, I watched a couple more.
Stage Five: The Show Takes OverSome days I would only watch one episode. Other days, I would watch a lot more than one episodes.
Stage Six: What Have I Done?The time between stage one and stage six becomes a blur. It all started with me trying to fill one mere hour of boredom. Two months later, I somehow finished an eight season…I watched 178 episodes. If each episode ran for approximately 42 minutes, that means that I spent about 125 hours or almost five whole days binge watching. ONE HOUR QUICKLY BECAME 125 HOURS!!! What have I done?!
Stage Seven: EmptinessThe deed is done and the show has been successfully binge watched. Now what? The show has consumed so much of my time and now that I’m done watching it, what am I supposed to do with my “free” time? The best way to describe this feeling is emptiness.
Stage Eight: Back to the Beginning
I tell myself that I won’t make the same mistakes again but all cycles inevitably repeat themselves.