New Era of TV-Watching Behavior:Binge Watching and its Psychological Effects

New Era of TV-Watching Behavior: Binge Watching and its Psychological Effects

AZZA ABDEL-AZIM MOHAMED AHMED
Abu Dhabi University, UAE

Abstract
Binge TV-watching marks a new era of TV-watching behavior among youth. It is a result of dependence on new media and the widespread usage of smart phones connected to the Internet. The study investigates binge-watching among a sample of Arab residents in United Arab Emirates. It examines how binge-watching might correlate to depression and loneliness. A constructed questionnaire was designed to collect data from a sample of 260 Arab residents living in Abu Dhabi from different age groups. The results showed that YouTube and the TV program websites are the main sources that respondents use for binge-watching. The most popular devices used for binge TV-watching are smart phones and laptops. The findings revealed that binge-watching is more significant among the younger age group. Also, the results showed a significant positive correlation between binge-watching and depression, while there was no significant correlation between binge TV-watching and loneliness.

Key words: Binge TV watching, depression, loneliness, United Arab Emirates, Arab residence

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Dr. Azza A. Ahmed is a professor of mass communication in Cairo University, Egypt and Abu Dhabi University, UAE. She got many awards for excellence in research from international conferences in USA, Morocco and Paris. She was the vice-president of the Arab-US Association for Communication Educators. Dr. Azza was the Arabic editor of the Journal of Middle East Media (2005-2016). Her research interest includes television effects, media credibility, new media usages and impacts. Dr. Azza established two mass communication programs in English and Arabic in Abu Dhabi University, UAE. She received Khalifa Award in education “Distinguished University Professor in Teaching” from United Arab Emirates in 2016.