Addicted to Orange is the New Black

“For many, binge watching is a break or reward,” says Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of “In Defense of Binge Watching.” This statement is absolutely accurate for me. This past fall, I fell to the addictive powers of Orange is the New Black. I validated the time I spent binge watching the season with the fact that I work hard, and because of that I should reward myself with a break. I had successfully moved my building in (I’m an RA) and my floor was off to a great start. They didn’t need me. Netflix did. I plowed through the first season of Orange is the New Black, only to find myself screaming at the screen at the end of the last episode. I needed season two! I’m still itching for the day season two comes out.

“If binge watching supports conversation, it discourages real-time chat,” Pang also says. This statement I have to disagree with. While I wasn’t live-tweeting each episode, I still tweeted about different episodes throughout the season, which happened to be in a two day span, so I guess you could say it was basically real-time. Also, I binge watched Orange is the New Black with my best friend. We didn’t just watch a few episodes together. We watched the whole season together. I would argue that watching a show together definitely prompts real-time chat. And for me, that’s one of the great things about binge watching. If you can find a binge watching buddy to join you, then you lose that sense of couch potato and gain that sense of social butterfly. I’m just an extrovert trying to do my job. So I fully support the community that binge watching a show can build.