Comparing the Motives for Binge-watching between Undergraduate Medical & Non-medical Students of Peshawar, Pakistan

Abstract Background: Binge-watching is the practice of watching several episodes of a television show at once. Both harmful and beneficial effects of this habit have been attributed to it, including decreased sleep and productivity and enhanced emotional involvement with the material. This study examines the driving forces behind binge-watching among undergraduates enrolled in medical and non-medical schools. Methods: The open-source software, “OpenEpi" was used to calculate the population size. 313 heavy binge-watchers in total were surveyed. 157 medical students and 156 non-medical students made up the sample. A validated version of the Watching TV Series Motives Questionnaire (WTSMQ) was used in this cross-sectional study to determine the motivations underlying the participants' binge-watching behavior. Results: The results showed a significant positive correlation between the degree of respondents and the escapism motive (r = 0.178, p = 0.002). However, no significant correlations were found between the degree of respondents and the other three motives including enrichment (r = 0.035, p = 0.537), emotional enhancement (r = 0.041, p = 0.465), and social (r = 0.016, p = 0.782). Conclusion: The study found that medical and non-medical students have similar motives for binge-watching. The need to escape from reality is a common reason for this behavior. The findings emphasize the importance of understanding the underlying motives for binge-watching behavior, which could inform the development of interventions to reduce problematic binge-watching behaviors.