By now we are all aware of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel Coronavirus. Not only has this pandemic affected global health, but it has also hit hard and crashed the economies worldwide. Due to the pandemic, most of the offices (especially the ones with air conditioning) are closed and so are almost all of the schools and colleges, and yes, a lot of people have lost their jobs.

As a result  a lot of people being at home, and working from home, people now get to spend a lot of time with their families and save their traveling time and money. But also, a large population of youth, especially high school and college students who are home, think they are having a time of their life since the schools and colleges are closed. This harms the education of the youth.

Now due to this excess time, youth eventually find a way to spend it in whatever way possible. Since they are home and not allowed to go out due to the pandemic, they eventually tend towards binge-watching. We all enjoy watching our favourite shows, but is it a very good idea to do just that all day long? Most people will not even realize the amount of time they spend binge-watching. Just imagine a youth who is supposed to spend most of his time and energy in activities like sports and studies, spends almost his entire day in front of a television, computer, or phone without even realizing it.

Binge-watching not only turns one into an addict but also makes that person insomniac. This must-have happened to all of us, we start off watching a TV series, and in the beginning, we tell ourselves, “Okay! Just one episode and then straight to bed!”, but once we are done watching the episode we click on “Next episode”, most of the time even without thinking twice, or even if someone does think about it, they convince themselves saying “Just one more episode, then straight to bed!”. Most people won’t even realize how many episodes they have watched, and by the time it is sunrise, they will realize that they were up the whole night watching not ONE EPISODE, but ONE WHOLE SEASON of that series.

This transition from “one episode” to “one season” is very dangerous. It not only wastes a person’s time making them insomniac but also makes them lethargic and turns them into a “couch potato”. This will later lead to conditions such as obesity and eventually heart attack! Companies that present such series use “binge-watching” as a marketing term and present it as if it is the coolest thing on earth! And the youth eventually fall prey to such tactics. Apart from Insomnia and lethargy, the person may also get into depression due to lack of contact with others and remaining indoors too much starting at a screen.

It is not a bad idea to stream and watch your favourite shows once in a while or even every day. IF you have control over yourself and do not make a transition from one episode to one season.

You might have observed in some advertisements of certain binge-watching platforms that along with the show they also advertise a soft drink (a fizzy drink) and popcorn or nachos. As if just lying around the whole day and watching your series wasn’t enough, now you will also start to consume the high-calorie junk food, and high sugar contained carbonated drinks, which have even worst effects on your body. The way this is advertised makes the person feel “Oh! That’s so cool! This is what I want to do the whole day!” and you end up being a couch potato consuming fries and burgers with fizzy drinks.

Of course, watching your favourite series and relaxing might be a perfect stress buster for you on weekends and it is perfectly fine as long as you can control the duration you spend on these platforms. So next time before you binge-watch, don’t tell yourself “just one episode”, rather ask yourself, “Can I stop after watching just one episode or an hour at any cost?” and if the answer is “Yes”, then watch it and if the answer is “No” and yet you continue to do so, then you very well know the consequences!