To Binge Or Not To Binge? That Is The Question...

As Frank & Claire Underwood have gotten the internet fired up for spring and the countdown to winter harkens in Westeros the word in popular culture is BINGE. Binging or marathon watching is nowhere near being a new phenomenon, but is has become a buzzword as technology such as stream services gain more popularity. The power of services such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc lie in their television catalogs. Life gets in the way and that show you were meaning to catch up on, that documentary you meant to catch, that special you wanted to watch, they're ALL there waiting for you to press play. Connectivity available around the planet in 2016 allows you to squeeze those precious moments in at home, on your laptop, tablet or your smartphone. By all means if you like TV and have some free time coming up, have at it. The question is should you binge watch or not? There is NO wrong answer, BUT here are a few questions and considerations that you should be aware of:

Episode Anxiety
Many bingers often complain about the lack of more episodes at the end of their run. It's OVER. You binged them. Whether it was just one season or several to bring you current, SORRY that's it. You have to wait like everyone else now. There IS a bright side. You're FINISHED. There are MORE shows you can catch now. Go ahead and get to 'em.

Genuine Interest or Keeping Up At The Watercooler?
Are you genuinely interested in what you're about to watch or are you trying to keep up with what everyone else is talking about? If you have a genuine interest, Yaaay. Trying to keep up? Okay cool, but be mindful that in the end that you may invest a lot of time in something that you ultimately don't like. Do the research. You know what you like.

How Good Are You With Names, Faces, Places, Events?
Binging can be considered the equivalent of speed reading for television. While you'll know main characters and major events, unless you're highly observant the subtleties, inside jokes, long running subplots/side stories can be missed. With more time to process episodes, these details come easier. It's the difference between attending a semester's worth of trigonometry or grabbing a textbook and learning it in a weekend. The process of repetition and building allows the information to be retained better. There are many who take EXCEPTION to this rule, but not the majority. This NOT to say DON'T binge, but I wouldn't want to re-watch a series because of how much of it I missed.

That's it.
Take it.
Leave it.
Enjoy it either way...