Privacy? What privacy?
Public bingers risk shame as fellow travellers judge what’s on your screen
Back in the day, when TV viewers fancied a little onscreen indulgence — maybe even with a scandalous scene or two — their sole choice was to partake at home, with only the dog around to lay judgment. But now, as streaming services and apps have taken viewing mobile, there’s always the risk of a stranger sneaking a peak at your screen.
According to a new survey from Netflix, 67 per cent of people around the world stream programming outside their homes, and 45 per cent of Canadians have caught a secret binger eyeballing their screens — with 20 per cent of us embarrassed about we’re watching.
The technical term for this, because nowadays there’s a technical term for everything, is “show shame.” Maybe you feel show shame over the steamy scenes in Orange is the New Black, or the violence on Suburra: Blood on Rome, or the delicious cheesiness oozing every which way on Fuller House.
Canadians deal with show shame in various ways, according to the survey, which took in more than 37,000 responses worldwide over two weeks this summer. Thirtyfour per cent of bingers check to see if anyone else noticed the onscreen shenanigans; 32 per cent pretend like nothing happened; 21 per cent turn off the show or movie; and 17 per cent cover up the screen.
Globally, the survey found that 11 per cent of public bingers have had a show or movie spoiled by seeing someone else’s screen and 27 per cent have had a stranger interrupt them to start a conversation about what they’re watching.
Last year Netflix launched a feature allowing people to download programs to watch when they’re out of Internet range, which likely boosted on-thego binging. And as the holidays looms, viewers are more apt to get their Netflix on.
The survey found that public streamers ranked access to movies and TV shows as more important while travelling than food and beverages (30 per cent versus 25 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively).
Sixty-three per cent of Canadians are concerned their travels will be delayed by weather, and 36 per cent are concerned with keeping themselves entertained.
And of those who’ve banked on inflight entertainment, 33 per cent say they’ve missed the ending of what they were watching because of the landing.
Surely the pilot could’ve circled the airport once more so we could find out what happens at the end of Little Fockers?