Lockdown diaries: When binge watching became the new ‘coping mechanism’

When the lockdown started, several people were left stuck inside their house for months, with nothing else but their phones or laptop for entertainment.

Hyderabad: Sitting at home for days at length, not being able to socialise and the fear of getting sick are serious concerns. When the lockdown started, several people were left stuck inside their house for months, with nothing else but their phones or laptop for entertainment. And thus, the pandemic saw a swift increase in the phenomenon of binge watching — viewing multiple consecutive episodes of a TV programme in one sitting.

While binge watching did provide a distraction from the quarantine blues, it also proved to be the next wave of growth for OTT companies. In fact, as per the report from BARC-Nielsen report, published in April 2020, the time spent on smartphones, the main device to consume online content in India, has increased to almost three hours per week, in the second week of Covid-19 disruption.

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But, the scenarios also presented several people with mental health issues. Calling it a negative coping strategy, many psychologists argued that binge watching is a “rescue” from anxiety to distract us from what else is going on in real life. While it may make you feel good and quiet your anxiety for a time, the gratification is only until the episodes run out.