What Do You Get For All Of That Binge-Watching?
The average American is spending about 10 hours every day watching television. This means that almost half of their day, every day, is spent looking at a screen, whether that be a tablet, television, computer, video game, or some other multimedia device.
For the average American who is watching roughly 10 hours every day, that means their binge-watching habit is equivalent to a full-time job in the amount of time that it's consuming from their life.
Regardless of the discrepancy, what's clear is that for millions of people it's still their favorite pastime and today we've got more options than ever when it comes to deciding what content we want to consume on the screen.
The idle lifestyle that comes along with molding a permanent position into the couch after hours of binge-watching your favorite shows, has long been a concern for psychologists, healthcare professionals, and researchers.
Numerous studies have sought to investigate the couch potato lifestyle, with results warning that such a lifestyle could promote a myriad of health concerns later down the road.
Aging Faster...
Researchers from UCSD previously found that for those with more of a sedentary lifestyle, that includes spending around 10 hours every day sitting, that their cells were found to be biologically older.
On average, they saw roughly an 8yr biological age gap compared with those of the same age who didn't spend as much time sitting down.
There are some folks out there who are spending around 18 hours a day consuming content, though the average is around 10 hrs for most.
Aside from the concerns over the rapid biological aging of cells, researchers have also warned that for children that this sort of sedentary lifestyle could promote concerns in the area of bone health.
According to a report that was recently published in the Journal of Health Psychology, researchers suggest that binge-watching our favorite shows might fuel a myriad of problems, from sleep issues, to much worse.
It also drastically increases the chances of someone binge-eating, pleasure eating snacks, something that they might later regret and reap unwanted results from.
Psychologists have frequently suggested that binge-watching your favorite shows is an addiction, comparing it with the same binge potential for habits involving drugs, sex, or eating.
Reverse The Damage
Even for those who might have had many years building a habit of watching their favorite shows and not getting much exercise, they always have the option to change things and to start building a new habit in their life.
Researchers suggest that by opting to make that change and start to incorporate more exercise into your life, that you could in-turn reverse the heart effects that might have come along with that sedentary lifestyle.
In some cases, simply making the change to replace sedentary time with light, everyday activity, such as simple housework, that it could help to significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and more.
Pics:
via REUTERS / from vocativ
simpsons via Giphy
Pixabay
pixabay
simpsons via giphy
The information that is posted above is not intended or implied to ever be used as any substitute for professional medical advice, or diagnosis or treatment. The above is posted for informational purposes only.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/30/health/americans-screen-time-nielsen/index.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-tv-do-americans-watch-2016-6
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/the-one-where-scientists-discover-were-binging-on-box-sets-for-up-to-14-hours-a-day-getting-fat-losing-sleep-and-wasting-our-livesresearch-reveals-dangers-of-streaming-tv-episodes-back-to/
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/219842/20180128/replacing-sedentary-time-with-30-minutes-of-housework-can-benefit-health.htm
http://www.vocativ.com/343665/study-cord-cutters-spend-more-time-looking-for-something-to-watch-on-netflix/index.html
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/health/breathe/2018/01/08/get-up-walk-around-take-stairs-even-little-changes-can-turn-around-sedentary-lifestyles/989856001/
http://www.cardiovascularbusiness.com/topics/heart-failure/exercise-training-middle-age-can-reverse-heart-effects-sedentary-lifestyle
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/regular-exercise-takes-years-laziness-study-finds-n835831
http://www.wral.com/binge-watching-shows-can-release-feel-good-chemical-in-brain-doctor-says/17282679/
https://hellogiggles.com/reviews-coverage/tv-shows/binge-watching-affect-sleep-scary-ways/
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https://steemit.com/market/@doitvoluntarily/3d-televisions-being-phased-out-of-market
Kids Risking Bone Issues Over Couch Potato Lifestyle Says New Study
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https://steemit.com/entertainment/@doitvoluntarily/new-study-breaks-down-consumers-tv-viewing-habits
Lol !Our TV is always on @doitvoluntarily !! Even if nobody is watching it . I will be blogging away on my chromebook but still listening to the T V at the same time , usually the History Chanel ! im in bed right now about to go sleep , otherwise my spot is in my easy chair with my chrombook in front , watching the TV , news or whatever ! usually i miss everything thats on because im too busy on Steemit hahaha ! Upped and resteemed ! Good Night !!😂😂😂📺📺📺
Also facts that binge eating can cause excessive eating which then in return cause diseases such as diabetes. It is a bad thing. The people need to stop the sedentary lifestyle. If the average American spends 10 hours...that is too much.
I was never one of those binge-watchers and never will. But I do enjoy some television once in a while usually family movie night or nature or something I can learn something or I love commedy, but to tell you the truth I get tired by watching more than 2 hrs television.
Now I don't even have cable, since it's waste of my time and money and there is nothing really I like to watch.
I can't believe how much of our life time people spend watching useless things and just living other peoples lives and not their own lives.
The same thing goes for our kids. I think kids enjoy the outside so much more than the television, but most parents use tv's as a babysitter and then the children are used to the television instead of doing and learning things by playing outside and so for that reason it does not surprise me that our bone strength and density gets weaker and weaker.
TV could be better if it had higher engagement from the people producing the content. But now it's too many middle hands producing the content. And it takes too long time to create something. It's a lack of connection to the one who is watching.
It's produced not out of passion but to appeal to as many as possible so they make it as simple as possible. It's a lack of excitement. And it's always the same predictable story they create the scripts from. Since I run a YouTube channel that has received over 600 million views I know that you need to format the videos in such a way that it receives the most amount of clicks possible. That's the only way you can make it into a living.
But now with services like Steemit we can produce more niche content that can fit smaller audiences. It becomes more engaging and it's more designed the way a person wants it. It reach smaller amount of people but it's extremely targeted so you can create a better profit. Which is very exciting!
And we pay cable $100.00 a month for that privileged. Started falling into that trap so I canceled my cable months ago. reading a lot more books and better off for it
This makes a lot of sense. It’s scary how many kids are glued to a screen now instead of being up and active. And we as adults are just letting it happen because we’re no better ourselves. I fear that most of us will not realize the detrimental effects of investing so much time in media until it’s too late. Personally I’m working on learning to pull myself away from screens and invest more time in productive things and being more active. It’s a hard battle to fight when media is everywhere and at our fingertips constantly. I am concerned not only for the physical ramifications of this but also the social and mental implications. As a society, at least in the US, we are so consumed with media that I believe we are neglecting our relationships with real people in real life and allowing our cognitive and social skills to atrophy.
Personally I stopped watching tv years ago, I like keeping myself productive and learning from books and YouTube lol . I grew up watching cartoons but they didn’t really get me anywhere in life , unless it’s teaching me how to progress in life , it’s not worth wasting time . Our time is this world is already limited
Lol, it took me 38 years to realize that my life was wasting away. By the way, wouldn't YouTube be considered binge watching too? I guess depends on how you're watching it.
It sucks. I have so many friends I try to go hang out with now and all they want to do is sit in their apartment and watch Netflix.
I've definitely been guilty of it at times in my life, but my overall experience is I just feel so much better when I'm out doing shit, and afterwards.
Good article. Thank you for touching on this issue :)
I either keep my television on the news or music on. I am not huge on tv, but, I do love my steemit!
Even then, I get up and mix it up with other chores so I don't fall behind on those.
You can have it all if you use a little Balance
That is my Tip! :) Steem on!
Ahh, is Americans...That is def. concerning message. I don't watch television, but do spend lot of time looking om screen..Unfortunately, the online work that I'm doing requires spending time that way, but am always trying to stay aware of that.
at least you are aware, it is good to have a conscious mindset when talking about a problem that seems to be so much so, 'preventable..'
Binge watching can be fun but it definitely has negative effects. Having said that...... I'm surprised to hear people are spending 10 hours a day binge watching TV. I'm at work most of the day so I don't have that luxury but I do spend several hours a day on steemit.
steemit > television hahah at least being on steemit you are able to learn something of significant value, while make a little money in the process
10 hours has got to be the high end of that average