It’s the golden age of television, Y’all! If you’re a human living on the planet Earth you’ve probably
fallen prey to something relatively new to our generation called, ‘binging’. Thanks to streaming
services, staying in and watching shows for hours on end has become more and more normal.
You might have done this 1, 2 or a million times- I’m not here to judge! Although, if you’ve
never done this even once in your life I might be slightly judging you. Some shows might be less
binge-able than others, but it’s starting to feel like we’re designing shows to become more
binge-worthy (I’m looking at you Netflix). I may or may not have recently wasted a day watching
Netflix’s new hit series, You, about a stalker that too many people have been thirsting over on
the interwebs. That’s a real problem, by the way. Am I rooting for a creepy stalker while
watching? Hell, no. Was the show entertaining as fuck? Yes. I’m starting to digress, but as I was
binging I took note of the phases of binging, and this is what I discovered…
1. You Lie To Yourself A Lot
You know how when you wake up in the morning some days/every day and you hit the snooze
button a million times. Each time you lie to yourself, saying this time will be the last. Well, that’s
exactly what it’s like when you start a binge. You tell yourself just one more episode. Soon you
find yourself halfway through a season of a show you started that day and questioning your life
decisions the further you get. But your just too damn deep, and with every single episode
ending in a juicy cliffhanger, who could blame you?
2. Guilt Starts To Kick In
You realize that you’re not gonna stop watching the new show that’s released until you’ve
finished. Your eyes are starting to hurt from the strain, you start questioning if it is healthy for
your brain to feel like this, and you haven’t gotten off the couch for longer than you’d ever want
to admit. The shame is real at this point. But then you quickly realize shame is a pointless
construct created by society, and continue to live vicariously through the characters stories. But
seriously, be kind to yourself, please.
3. Binge-Eating
You have no shame at this point, remember that. You suddenly find yourself nearing the end of
your binge, and the number of episodes you have left has become dangerously small. An
emptiness starts deepening in your soul. Before you let the reality sink in you plead to the
universe for more episodes because at this point your afraid of finding out who you are without
the show you just spent your day with. You’re on the last episode and you might find yourself
reaching out for comfort food, and I’m right there with you, trust me.
4. Acceptance
You’ve bargained with the universe, felt all-consuming guilt, and you’ve fed yourself many lies
(and maybe some comfort food #noshame). There’s only one phase left of the binging process,
and its simply accepting the temporary or perhaps permanent end to a show with an
extraordinarily heavy heart.