As hunter-gatherers over the millennia, our movements and life rhythms were guided by the seasons, the sun and moon. In the transition to agrarian society, our daily activities continued to follow the pace of the natural environment and demands of the farm. Even during the industrial age, workers had to punch in for shifts in the factory.
Only with the information age and the change in dominance from products to services did members of society begin to break free from the need to hunt meat before winter, to plow fields in spring and to provide labor on the assembly line at set times. Our relationship both to time and place has become more tenuous. It is now possible to make a living online offering services across the globe at any time of the day or night for people whom we neither see in person nor communicate with in real time. No question, the information age has expanded productivity, but has it enhanced our freedom? We would like to think so.
Even television has changed. Years ago one would need to wait a week between episodes, organize his or her schedule to be available when the show aired and sit captive during commercials. Yet, there was still a rhythm to the day. Gradually, one could begin to tape shows on a VCR and on occasion watch marathon sessions of a certain show, or actor or theme offered by the station. However, with the development of iTunes, Netflix Streaming, Hulu, Amazon, Tivo and DVR, viewers can readily view an unlimited number of episodes during a single sitting at a time of their own choosing, without commercials.
According to Harris Interactive, 78 percent of Americans have watched television on their own schedule, and two-thirds have engaged in binge viewing of multiple episodes at one time. As expected, for younger viewers, those 18-29, use of streaming devices is at 71 percent, and use drops with age to 19 percent for those 55 and older. Marketing strategies have begun to consciously encourage binge viewing. For example, in advance of the Memorial Day weekend, Netflix released, all at once, a full season of "Arrested Development." This comical series is about a dysfunctional family that has gone unexpectedly from rags to riches, described by one critic as a bunch of "layabouts."
The quandary for advertisers is how to reach viewers in the absence of commercial breaks. The advertisers are by no means in retreat. More and more, brand recognition is achieved by embedding products directly into programming in a manner that is increasingly subliminal. Total television ad expenditures in 2012 were greater than $74 billion, a 9 percent increase compared with the previous year.
The upside for television watchers is longer, more intense, uninterrupted periods of entertainment and viewing pleasure. The downside is that we can get lost to a fault. Binge watchers can forget to eat, neglect to exercise and unknowingly drift away from friends and family.
The information age does support social networking, distance relationships and business productivity. There can be a great sense of global connectedness when a new song or an act of injustice goes viral. Yet, as regards binge viewing, the information age can make us more vulnerable to addiction, social isolation and truly arrested development.
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Ira Zunin, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., is medical director of Manakai o Malama Integrative Healthcare Group and Rehabilitation Center and CEO of Global Advisory Services Inc. Please submit your questions to info@manakaiomalama.com.
