The internet was recently abuzz with the release of the newest season of House of Cards. You may remember how the first season of the show was a huge game changer for Netflix. All 13 episodes were released simultaneously on February 14th at 12:01 p.m.

This phenomena of whole season releases has become so popular that it has even spilled over into music with Beyonce releasing her surprise, self-titled, visual album last December.

What is binge-watching?

While this new season of House of Cards is said to be stellar, the phenomena of binge-watching is being talked about with equal zeal.

According to Wikipedia (who by the way referenced a study conducted by main binge-watching culprit Netflix,) binge-watching is watching two to six episodes of the same show consecutively. We Stalecake-ians think that threshold is pretty low. Binge-watching seems more like watching 6 or more episodes, while possibly compromising on things like food, personal hygiene, and sanity. Here is a further breakdown on the complex issue of when watching becomes binge-watching: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/02/when-exactly-does-watching-a-lot-of-netflix-become-a-binge/283844/.

According to Netflix, binge-watching is the future of television. But is binge-watching a good or a bad thing?

The Good

Not having to play the waiting game throughout the TV season is pretty damn sweet. Instead of having to wait several days to find out what happens next you can find out everything over the course of several hours. That is pretty awesome.

Do people unintentionally spoil what happens on your favorite show before you can get to it? If you watch it ALL right now, you won’t have to worry about that anymore.

The Bad

The brain needs time to thoughtfully process the television you watch. Letting episodes marinate and having time to read/discuss them can enhance your television watching experience. One critic details why you shouldn’t binge watch: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/07/09/binge_watching_tv_why_you_need_to_stop_.html.

And The Ugly

Now you may think that fatalities due to binge behavior only happen when people binge on things like crack, and alcohol. But recently, there have been deaths related to binging on media. Those deaths occurred from playing video games for excessive amounts of time.

Your chances of dying from binge-watching are probably pretty slim, but maybe you should give your tv and your couch a break once in a while.