Once upon a time a couch potato hooked up with a channel surfer and they produced a love child and that child’s name was binge watcher.
This is one way of explaining how the simple rituals of TV have changed along with TV watchers themselves, the shows they watch and how and why they watch them.
Binge watching is the practice of viewing repeated and numerous episodes of a TV show, either past or current, often the complete series from beginning to end.
There is no set number of shows or hours you must watch to be called a binger (one who binges) but what was once a guilty pleasure has become an obsession for some.
This has been facilitated by web services and Netflix and all those other wonderful little time-wasters we subscribe to.
It used to be that our favourite shows could only be seen once a week and if we missed an episode the only hope was to catch it during reruns.
Now entire seasons are available at once, on demand and if you want to watch all 202 episodes of The X-Files (don’t ask how I know) nobody can stop you.
Recent surveys have revealed some interesting information about the viewing habits of Canadians.
About 80 per cent of us have watched three or more consecutive episodes of our favourite show in one sitting.
That same percentage admits losing sleep to television and 10 per cent will admit to TV viewing at work or even in the bathroom.
A friend or acquaintance of yours could be binge watching Game of Thrones or House of Cards right now on your very own toilet.
Television has suffered a bad reputation for years. It’s been blamed for everything from attention deficit disorder to that extra 20 pounds of fat we all carry around.
And of course any kind of binge is a bad thing and we associate the word with excessive eating, drinking or wasteful government spending.
It’s no surprise that television binging is seen by some as a very bad and unhealthy habit.
But TV ain’t like it used to be and when approached mindfully and conscientiously, watching a whole lot of TV can be what psychologists call a restorative experience.
At least that’s what the TV watchers tell us. It has been transformed into endless and effortlessly fascinating entertainment and information (documentaries can be binged, too).
Viewers now have the ability to immerse themselves into a story or plot line for hours or days at a time to gain a complete understanding and make a solid emotional connection.
Some compare the overall experience to attending a professional music concert or a theatre production, except you can participate in the comfort of your own home.
One woman binge watches with her widowed father on the other side of the country. They talk together on the phone while watching a few episodes of his favourite shows.
Binging, sadly even the bad types, is always more enjoyable with family and friends and can provide a much-needed distraction from loneliness and despair.
It is also a good way for Canadians to hunker down and wait for spring while the wind chills us, the snow piles up and the temperature drops without mercy.
It won’t cure cabin fever but by the time you finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy and binge a few hundred episodes of your favourite drama series spring will be much closer.
TV has many detractors but to paraphrase dedicated binger Homer Simpson, “Television gives so much and asks so little.”
We can taper off once the weather improves.
