5 Steps to Binge-Watch Like A Pro

Binge-watching season is fast approaching, and now with the Thanksgiving Holiday break, we all have time to watch some of the series that everyone is talking about.

I’m specifically talking to YOU, Jessica Jones.

Is binge-watching a sport? A hobby? Guys, I wish I could add this as a skill on my resume. Even though each person consumes media in different ways, I can share with you guys some of my tips for the average college student/full-time worker that wants to stay up to date with the latest shows.

I’m usually in front of many screens throughout the day: from my iPhone, to my computer at work and then either the TV or my iPad, if I want to watch a full season of Master of None on Netflix, I need to prepare my environment for a proper binge-watching experience.
Here’s what I do:
1. Find the right time
The first thing you should do is find the show that you want to watch. So many shows, so little time! Then, you need to check the duration per episode, the length of the season or how many seasons are there for you to catch up.

After you have figured out all of this, plan your week accordingly. For example, Breaking Bad is 62 episodes, each episode is about an hour. You could easily watch 1-3 episodes per night and increase the amount of episodes during the weekend if you’d like.

In my case, I caught up with the show in 3 weeks and even managed to watch the last 3 episodes live on TV. It took some commitment, but I got it done!

2. Get comfortable
Sweatpants, check. Blanket, check. Pillows, check. Room temperature set so you don’t freeze or sweat midway of your binge watch that you have to get up and change it, check. In my case, I’m more comfortable watching TV in my sofa than in the bed, because otherwise I’d fall asleep at any minute.

3. Plan your breaks
If you’re watching Orange Is The New Black, you know that you can take a break during the intro song, I mean the song is called “You’ve Got Time“, go figure!
So, if there’s an intro song you should take this time for a bathroom break, stretch, find that leftover pizza and reheat it in the oven, text your family and friends and tell them that your hibernation period is going well, etc.

4. How to avoid getting tired
One of the things that will likely happen while you’re doing a TV marathon is that your eyes get tired. We’ve all been there: you say to yourself “just one more episode!” but your eyes are ready to shut down. What can you do to keep going without affecting your vision?

As you know, I’m in front of a screen basically the whole day, between work and school, my eyes are exposed to millions of pixels everyday. At one point, by the time I would get home I would be so tired that my eyes would start to hurt and the last thing I wanted to do is stare at another screen to catch up with my shows. Luckily I found the Eyezen glasses which are available without prescription to protect your eyes from all the digital screens we use everyday. The glasses reduce glare and prevent premature aging of the eyes, which we all need with the amount of TV and videos we’re watching nowadays!

4. Food? Yes, food.
I’m not the type of person who would forget to eat, but sometimes when I’m captivated by a show I can’t look away unless I know exactly what happens. I suggest you should have some kind of snack like a granola bar, coffee or a bowl of cereal, if I feel like indulging then it’s either take out or pizza which never fails. The point of the matter is to eat something that will keep you awake while you’re watching your show.

5. You’re done watching your series, what now?
After all you’ve been through, you’ve finally made it! Hoping that you didn’t sleep through three episodes in your marathon, the moment is finally here: you have reached the finale. You can now speak proudly about the whole series, give insight about that little detail you noticed one time at 3am.
So, you should check out some of our reviews and recommendations for new shows at TheYoungFolks.com!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Essilor. The opinions and text are all mine.