The Psychology Behind Rewatching TV Shows

By Faith Nguyen, Copy Editor

Courtesy of GOOGLE

As the weeks of quarantine have progressed, many have turned to old friends: not classmates, but television shows. Rather than “binging” new material, old favorites like “the Office” and “Grey’s Anatomy” keep returning to screens nationwide.

Although rewatching has always been a common pastime, with the rapidly progressing lockdown, the activity has become more prevalent than ever. This raises the question: why do we prefer to hear the same plot line and dialogue over and over again, rather than go through a brand new adventure with new characters?

The answer is simple: comfort, and laziness.

The Atlantic journalist Derek Thompson categorizes the reasoning behind the activity into four subcategories: habits, addictions, rituals (comfort), and status-quo bias (laziness).

“Habits, like going for a run to begin your day, are regular and automatic. We don’t even have to think about them, and that's part of their value. Addictions, like smoking, are like habits on evil steroids. They are unmanageable and lead to physical dependence. Then there are rituals, like Thanksgiving or wearing lucky socks before presentations,” Thompson said.

The most notable from his theory is the category “status-quo bias.” Laziness becomes an important factor in choosing which show to watch. When faced with making a decision, the easiest option is usually not making a decision at all. Especially in this day and age with the rising number of streaming services, many fall into a state of “decision paralysis,” where it becomes exhausting to make a choice even as simple as choosing what to watch. The pattern of sticking with old decisions because it is less mentally draining than changing routine is known as status-quo bias.

Netflix, Hulu, and many other streaming services are littered with 10 season long shows. Before putting on “How I Met Your Mother” for three days straight, you might want to ask yourself, “Do I really care about what happens to Ted Mosby’s love life, or am I just too lazy to figure out what I really want to be doing with my time?”