The advent of the digital age with its progress in digital technology has been
associated in recent years with an increase in binge-watching (i.e., seeing multiple
episodes of the same TV series in one session). Binge-watching has now become
the new normative way to consume TV shows. Nevertheless, along with its recent
massive rise has come concerns about the associated mental and physical health
outcomes. Currently available results suggest the potential harmfulness and even
addictive nature of binge-watching. The psychological investigation of this behavior,
however, is still in its infancy, with most studies using a confirmatory approach
and assuming a priori its genuine addictive nature. In contrast, the current perspective
article argues the case for an exploratory approach as an initial step for
conducting research on behaviors that—at first sight—look like addiction when
applying a symptom-based approach. A qualitative understanding of the phenomenological
characteristics of binge-watching as the foundation of an initial comprehensive
discussion makes it possible to formulate hypotheses concerning its
potentially addictive nature and to emphasize challenges and directions for future
research. Here we propose an exploration of the dynamics of binge-watching
behavior based on a model involving emotion regulation in the etiology and
maintenance of problem binge-watching