If you've ever found yourself thinking that you and your favorite character would totally be friends in real life, you've likely experienced this type of involvement. In the Queue 6 Ways 'This Is Us' Is Basically Free Therapy 'Parasocial interaction' is a one-way relationship where the viewer feels a close connection to an actor or character in the TV show.' Also, the identification with power, prestige and success makes it pleasurable to keep watching. 'Gossip Girl,' 'America's Next Top Model'). 'Wishful identification,' is where plots and characters offer opportunity for fantasy and immersion in the world the viewer wishes they lived in (ex. The show is so popular because of its multiple avenues for identification. ''Modern Family,' for example, offers identification for the individual who is an adoptive parent, a gay husband, the father of a gay couple, the daughter of a father who marries a much younger woman, etc. ''Identification' is when we see a character in a show that we see ourselves in,' she explains. DeSilva, there are a handful of different forms of character involvement that contribute to the bond we form with the characters, which ultimately make us more likely to binge watch a show in its entirety. We get drawn into story lines, become attached to characters and truly care about outcomes of conflicts.'Īccording to Dr. 'So when watching a TV program, the areas of the brain that are activated are the same as when experiencing a live event. 'Our brains code all experiences, be it watched on TV, experienced live, read in a book or imagined, as 'real' memories,' explains Gayani DeSilva, M.D., a psychiatrist at Laguna Family Health Center in California. Spending so much time immersed in the lives of the characters portrayed on a show is also fueling our binge watching experience. It can become addicted to any activity or substance that consistently produces dopamine. Your body does not discriminate against pleasure. But if you spent last weekend watching season two of 'Stranger Things' in its entirety, you may have found yourself feeling exhausted by the end of it - and downright depressed that you're out of episodes to watch. In fact, the Netflix survey also found that 73 percent of participants reported positive feelings associated with binge-watching. Of course, we wouldn't do it if it didn't feel good. In fact, according to Nielsen, 361,000 people watched all nine episodes of season 2 of 'Stranger Things,' on the first day it was released. A more recent study found that most Netflix members choose to binge-watch their way through a series versus taking their time - finishing an entire season in one week, on average (shows that fall in the Sci-Fi, horror and thriller categories are the most likely to be binged). 361,000 people watched all nine episodes of the second season of 'Stranger Things' on the first day it was released.Īs for the amount of binge watching we're doing, a Netflix survey found that 61 percent of users regularly watch between 2-6 episodes of a show in one sitting.

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