Watching series for a long period of time does not usually affect people, but series are generally created to attract the viewer through actions that shape the product and direct it to a specific target audience.
In addition, series activate the nervous substrate we have in our brain, turning it into a gratifying behavior. This means that, on certain occasions, we cannot stop watching them. This becomes a problem when we stop doing certain activities because we are in front of a screen.
TV series binge watching in children
There are groups of people who are more vulnerable than others. This is the case of children. During the COVID-19 pandemic, audiovisual consumption increased significantly and gave children immediate access to all kinds of information. Our brain likes immediacy, so this massive access contributes to reinforce this behavior.
Adults have cognitive control mechanisms that depend on the prefrontal cortex, one of the areas of our brain that takes longer to mature: until the age of 20 or 25. Children, on the other hand, do not have these mechanisms, so it is more difficult to control behavior in this type of situation. For this reason, it is important for parents to control the content, the product and the hours their children spend in front of the screens.
Factors that help to have a good brain development
The “Brains Health Initiative” project, developed by the Guzmán Institute of Barcelona and Harvard University, has detected which are the factors that help us to have a correct brain development.
Among the most important are the following:
- Physical exercise
- Nutrition
- Sleep patterns
- Correct socialization
If minors are exposed to these screens for many hours and fail to follow these factors, we will find ourselves with a possible developmental problem.