Admit it, we all do it. We’ve all sat in front of our televisions, or laptops, or in desperate times even our smart phones, pulled up that little red website, and clicked play. Over and over and over again in a binge watching frenzy.

But why? Why do we justify sitting for hours on end while watching an entire season of a show on Netflix? It’s definitely not healthy for our bodies, and all that screen time can’t be good for our minds. But people do it.

The official definition of a binge watch is watching four or more one-hour episodes in a row. This kind of viewing is encouraged by the automatic play features on Netflix and Hulu, you don’t even have to push play – the next episode just starts! Four episodes later, you’re on a full fledged binge.

Watching shows on a binge are now seen as normal things to do and to admit to, you’re happy when your friend binge watches an entire season so you are both caught up and can talk about the plot of your new favorite show.

Perhaps the biggest culprit in the binge watching phenomenon is the way Netflix is releasing their original series. Who doesn’t remember someone binge watching the entire second season of House of Cards when it was released on Valentine’s Day? Or was the binge watcher…

Netflix kept records of how fast users watched the second season of House of Cards. With the season taking up 13 hours of content, the winner of the unofficial binge watching contest was a user who finished the season in 13 hours and 3 minutes.

In today’s completely digitalized world, it is important that people take a break from screen time to unwind. However most people spend their time unwinding sitting in front of their computers watching a whole season of Breaking Bad. This behavior just isn’t healthy, and sooner or later the effects are going to come crashing down on us. According to this study about how sitting too much takes years off one’s life, its probably going to be sooner.