Bingeing though: binge-watching series makes you smarter

This is some nice news. The kind of news you get and that you can finally say with conviction: YES. When Netflix asks you again ‘if you are still watching’ when you are binge-watching the eighth episode in a row (when are they going to stop asking that?). Or a YES when people are surprised and ask if you really watched that entire series that just came out last week. Oh, and also when people ask if you are sure you are not going out tonight, but would rather lie on the couch with Netflix. Yes. Yes. YES.

Because the news I am talking about is that you are binge-watching so it seems to make you smarter. Really educational, all those series we are watching en masse. If we are to believe Ellen ter Gast, who describes this in her book ‘The Brave Viewer’. Ellen, I already love you, I type while I start my third episode of Gossip Girl today (today yes, not from the past years of course). Shameless, because this is good for me.

But what exactly do we learn? According to Ter Gast, we learn to broaden our view of the world through the different situations we encounter in the series. We also learn a lot from the behavior of the characters we see. You start to think about how you would act in similar situations – and you learn from that. And by discussing the situations with your surroundings, you also pick up something from that.

So it's all good news. Good for our view of the world AND good for our ability to put things into perspective. Only that discussing with your surroundings, I might still need to overcome a personal hurdle. The shame of binge-watching is often still a bit too present. But does anyone else want to talk to me about whether Ross and Rachel were really on a break? That Chuck and Blair are much better than Dan and Serena? Or you know, it actually doesn't matter: you pick a series, I'll join in. It's good for us.