Hey Netflix, Stop Encouraging Binge Watching

Prepare yourselves: Netflix will release House of Cards Season 2 on Valentine's Day. For fans of the first season, this means a sense of excitement mingled with foreboding — because of course, Netflix will release all 13 hour-long episodes at once. Subscribers will have to make a decision soon: do they blow the whole weekend of Feb. 15 to 16 on the show, or do they risk the slings and arrows of outrageous spoilers?

It's surprising how fast we have entered into a world where binge viewing of an entire season is not only the norm, it is encouraged. It's encouraged by Netflix and, to a lesser extent, Hulu Plus. Both will automatically play the next episode in a series the minute you're done watching one on certain platforms Read more...