Why Rewatching Your Favorite TV Show Is Good for You

Writer and editor Jill Duffy first started rewatching TV shows after she moved from the U.S. to India with her partner in 2015. She was struggling to adjust to life in a new country, and Seinfeld and Modern Family reminded her of living in San Francisco and New York, where life was more familiar. She appreciated how the characters “[felt] like friends at a time when we were distanced from our friends,” she says. Rewatching favorite episodes of British comedy shows like The IT Crowd and Peep Show gave her a laugh before bed. Half a decade later, faced with similar feelings of alienation and loneliness during the pandemic, she returned to the ritual of rewatching TV shows at the end of the day. She’s since expanded her library (Schitt’s Creek has become a new favorite) but the reason she seeks these shows out have mostly stayed the same: she likes knowing she can watch a show that will comfort her when the world outside feels scary and unpredictable. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] When you consider the course of human history—or even television history—rewatching television shows on demand is a relatively new phenomenon. But our instinct to turn to the same stories again and again is part of the human experience, says Shira Gabriel, a professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo who researches how watching TV shows can enhance feelings of belonging. Humans have an innate need to belong to larger groups for our survival, ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Evergreen freelance healthscienceclimate Mental Health Source Type: news