# How do you define "Binge watching"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630 "2017-03-07T16:45:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/1 "2017-03-07T16:45:31Z")
I’ve been rewatching last season of Game of Thrones. Two episodes a night each night for the last few days. To me, I would call that binge watching but I could see how some would disagree since to them binge watching means X episodes in a row where X is more than, say, 3. So how do you define binge watching? Is watching a few episodes over many nights as valid a definition as watching many episodes over few nights? ---
**Author:** ![MedellinMike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@MedellinMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MedellinMike)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/2 "2017-03-07T16:58:40Z")
By my definition you’d qualify. I’d say if you’re watching 8-10 hours of a show within a week then you’re binge watching. Regardless of if it’s 2 hours each night everyday, or 8 hours straight on a weekend. The two qualifications I’d have is that first: you are watching with the intent of either finishing a season/series or in order to get caught up with the current season. And second that you are actively watching the show. So just leaving on “Law and Order” or “Big Bang Theory” while you’re doing chores after work would not count. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/3 "2017-03-07T17:28:45Z")
If I finish a 10 episode season in 2 weeks, I call that a binge. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/4 "2017-03-07T17:45:17Z")
Usually a 2-3 day weekend if I just got a new boxed set on DVD. Like when I bought all five series of _Call The Midwife_ from the UK. Basically, keep watching until there aren’t any more. It can go longer. I got a great big box of the entire original series of Dark Shadows for Christmas, over 1200 episodes. I take a break from it now and again to watch something else for an afternoon, but that’s been pretty much going on since the morning of Dec. 28 and will until I get through them all. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/5 "2017-03-07T17:47:49Z")
I’d call it pretty much any situation where you’re not watching the show in the broadcast sequence, and are deliberately watching multiple episodes in a short time frame. Usually this is because you’re watching it after the show’s finished its season or production run. So 8 hours straight is binge watching, but so is watching 2-3 episodes a day for several days on end. Or even one a day for a week or two. Note- missing a few episodes in a show’s run and catch-up watching them in a sitting isn’t binge watching exactly in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/6 "2017-03-07T20:45:33Z")
To me, 2+ episodes a day nearly everyday until a “set” is finished is binge watching. (A “set” being a whole series, a season or all seasons up to the most recent. Or perhaps a group of related movies watching one+ per day. I use the term “semi-binge watching” to mean one episode a night or so. E.g., **Mrs. FtG** and I are currently semi-binge watching _Sneaky Pete_ S1 and _Mozart in the Jungle_ S3. (Short binges though they are.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/7 "2017-03-07T20:54:14Z")
My personal rule is I try not to watch more than one episode a day. I feel you need to have at least a one day break between each episode because they weren’t made to be watched one after another and it can throw the narrative off to watch them that way. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/8 "2017-03-07T20:55:12Z")
I call it binge watching if I’m binge-drinking at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/9 "2017-03-08T00:00:15Z")
I’d say 3 or more episodes of a single show in single series. 2 or more if you’re alternating between multiple series all in one day. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/10 "2017-03-08T12:46:28Z")
According to [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com), “Binge” is defined as: > [@](#): > > noun > 1. > a period or bout, usually brief, of excessive indulgence, as in eating, drinking alcoholic beverages, etc.; spree. It’s not binge drinking if you drink 1 or 2 beers a day and eventually finish a 24 pack. It’s moderate drinking. Similarly, it’s not binge watching if you watch 1 or 2 episodes a day of a series and eventually finish it. Personally, I’d only consider it a binge if you watch more than 4 hours in a day. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/11 "2017-03-08T12:59:15Z")
But if they are the only 24 cans of beer in the world surely it is a binge to drink them in 12 days? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/12 "2017-03-08T13:15:33Z")
I tend to binge by watching one episode per night. Any more than that gets a bit overwhelming, and I have loads of other TV to watch anyway. For the Netflix series that release every ep on the same day, I may even stretch that out a bit longer, with a weekend break or longer somewhere in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/13 "2017-03-08T13:53:45Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > But if they are the only 24 cans of beer in the world surely it is a binge to drink them in 12 days? Yeah, I would tend to say that taking a series that’s coming up on its seventh season, with 60 episodes spread out since 2010, and watching them in a relatively short period of time compared to the release period constitutes a “binge.” That said, I probably would just say that I’m “working through” the episodes, reserving “binge” for even more concentrated bouts of watching, like watching an entire season of a show in a day or two. But I’m fine with “binge” referring to the OP’s situation. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/14 "2017-03-08T14:03:57Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > So how do you define binge watching? Is watching a few episodes over many nights as valid a definition as watching many episodes over few nights? I’d say so. I watched the entire run (Season 1, so far) of _Attack on Titan_ in about a week. Season 2 is due out this spring. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/15 "2017-03-08T16:59:08Z")
I find if I watch too many in a row (especially hour long dramas) I stop enjoying it after a while and it feels like work. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-binge-watching/781630/16 "2017-03-08T17:02:23Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > But if they are the only 24 cans of beer in the world surely it is a binge to drink them in 12 days? Quite an interesting perspective. Figure your expected remaining lifetime. Divide by number of episodes. Any rate higher than that is binging. Not sure how you’d space out something like _The Simpsons_. The most recent episode indicated that they’re planning a _Kamp Krustier_ episode in season 52.