Binge Watching during COVID-19: Associations with Stress and Body Weight

Abstract

Binge watching is becoming increasingly common and may impact energy balance and body weight. The COVID-19 pandemic has created conditions conducive to binge watching and increased stress. We investigated relationships between COVID-related stress and binge watching behaviors, and potential variation in this relationship by body weight. Adults (n = 466) completed a cross-sectional online survey assessing binge watching behaviors during and before the pandemic, COVID-related stress, and body weight. Participants reported an increase in binge watching frequency from before to during the pandemic (F1,401 = 99.970, p < 0.001), with rates of high binge watching (“3–4 times per week” to “3 or more times per day”) increasing from 14.6% to 33.0%. Binge watching episode duration increased from 3.26 ± 1.89 h to 3.92 ± 2.08 h (p < 0.001). The increase in binge watching frequency was greatest in individuals with obesity and high stress (F 4,401 = 4.098, p = 0.003). Participants reporting high stress reported higher frequency of eating while binge watching, as well as higher levels of negative emotional triggers, consequences to binge watching, and lack of control over binge watching (all p < 0.001). Our results show that binge watching increased during the pandemic, with greater increases among individuals reporting higher COVID-related stress, especially those with obesity, and concomitant effects on eating, and highlight a need for interventions to minimize the obesogenic impact of binge watching during the pandemic.

„Streaming trap – the occurrence of the phenomenom of binge-watching and the mean world syndrome: a narrative review”

“…Accompanying negative emotions and feelings of powerlessness influence the intensity of binge-watching through the mechanisms described above [14]. It was noted that the COVID-19 pandemic period was associated with an increase in binge-watching in the study populations [15].…”

“…Specifically, people with high levels of stress tended to overeat during binge-watching sessions, compared to those with lower levels of stress. The most common motivation for overeating during binge-watching was boredom [15].…”

“…Towarzyszące negatywne emocje oraz poczucie bezsilności wpływają na natężenie zjawiska binge-watching poprzez wyżej opisane mechanizmy [14]. Poza opisanymi czynnikami, zauważono, że okres pandemii COVID-19 wiązał się ze wzrostem binge-watching w badanych populacjach [15].…”

Binge-watching as one of the new emerging behaviors in the COVID-19 era: Is it dangerous?

“… 11 , 19 Furthermore, the research related to interventions on excessive binge-watching behavior is no less critical. 3 , 24 This is very useful for reducing the negative impact caused by extreme binge-watching behavior as well. In addition, binge-watching should also receive special attention in Indonesia, a developing country whose internet usage increases every year.…”

Associations of mothers’ and fathers’ structure-related food parenting practices and child food approach eating behaviors during the COVID pandemic

“…The overarching goal of the current study was to investigate relationships between structure-related parent feeding and child food approach behaviors in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic while considering potential moderating influences of parent sex and co-feeding levels on these relationships. For this analysis we used an online survey (see [54] , [55] , [56] for further details) that collected data from mothers and fathers drawn from different families, with each survey corresponding to a unique parent-child dyad.…”