Spotlight
Is Watching Netflix Debilitating Our Mental Health?
Netflix is undoubtedly a scintillating and addictive binge-worthy entertainment streaming site with all the television shows and films you can watch.
The addiction, however, can be too irrevocable because some people are binge-watching entirely too much of the frills of Netflix, eight hours or more in a day, sabotaging the status of their job, health, hygiene, relationships with friends, family members, and partners.
Everyone has found themselves once or a dozen times voraciously watching Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming sites, binging on a show that they love or just discovering for the first time. It is a typical habit zealously indulged by most people.
“The United States of Labor Statistics detected that the average American usually views 2.7 hours of television per day, accumulating to virtually 20 hours per week.”
You would have to insinuate that the fixed hours that people usually watch television to increase given the existence of Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services.
“A Netflix survey recorded that sixty-one percent of subscribers frequently immerse themselves in somewhere between two to six episodes of a particular television show all in one screening.
In fact, a Nielsen report showed that 361, 000 Netflix subscribers watched season two of Stranger Things entire nine episodes on the day it was released.”
The act of binge-watching your favorite show is appealing, but it is also exhausting and disappointing for many people because they finish watching the show sooner than they should have and it only leaves them feeling dissatisfied.
Netflix is not the best tool with which to practice escapism because it only makes you feel more miserable. A study revealed that individuals who watch television to forget about their anxiety elevated their risk of acquiring insomnia by four percent.
This all occurs because the human brain constantly creates dopamine, a gratification chemical resulting in the feeling of being high on drugs.
The brain transmits messages, such as satisfaction and encouragement, to the body because the feeling is so pleasurable when you are doing something enjoyable like watching your favorite show. The condition is known as a pseudo-addiction because you are fostering cravings for dopamine.
Binge-watchers exhibited more fatigue, insomnia symptoms, poorer sleep quality, and higher alertness preceding sleep.
Netflix is like anything in life that you must use in moderation, like medication, social media, water, electricity, and alcohol.