COVID-19: Why You Should Not Binge-Watch

From Worldometer,  COVID-19 new deaths:

DAY           USA   WORLD  Brazil  India South Africa

May     13    1772     5314

            14    1715     5317
            15    1595     5072
            16    1218     4360
            17      865     3618
            18    1003     3445
            19    1552     4589
            20    1403     4685
            21    1418     4934         1188     150         30
            22    1293     5252           966     142         28
            23    1036     4183           965     142         10
            24      617     2826           703     156         22
            25      505     3096           806     148         52

Summary:

• Good day for the USA, for we have fallen behind Brazil in new deaths.
• While we had more new cases (19,790) than Brazil (13,051), that is because we test a lot more:  45,910/million population versus only 3,461 for Brazil.
• Of the six countries with the most total cases, though, we are behind Russia, Spain, the UK and Italy in tests/million people.
• From Mexico down through most of South America, cases and deaths are increasing.

The New York Times indicated that the actual death count is around 30% higher than reported.  Thus., the nearly 100,000 deaths should be around 130,000.  In any case, compared to the 7500 (summer) to 8000 (winter) deaths/day that normally occur in the U.S., this number increased to 10,000/day at peak because of COVID-19.

Several ways of looking at this:

• One, by taking precautions, the nation was able to plateau and lower the death curve.  
• But two, looking at the percentage increase in deaths (roughly "only" about 15% higher averaged out over a four month period), was the resultant panic which totally discombobulated our economy--rivaling what happened during the Great Depression nearly a century ago--an overreaction and unnecessary?  
• Was the quarantining really worth the loss in revenues?  
• During a time of war a lot people die, but the overall economy does okay.  
• During this COVID-19 war, of course too many died as in any conflict of this type, but was the compounding of a significantly depressed economy justified? 
• However, a third relativity analysis could argue that if the country did not lock down, deaths could have been much, much higher, so what is right and wrong, justified or not, would only be hypothetical.

Also from The New York Times, to add further stress to a society in a pandemic:

The federal government’s annual hurricane forecast for the Atlantic Ocean came out on Thursday, and it’s worrisome. A typical hurricane season has 12 named storms. This year’s season — which officially starts June 1 — is expected to have between 13 and 19. Stanley Ho — who led the transformation of Macau, off the coast of China, into the world’s most lucrative gambling destination — died today at age 98.  I've had several posting on Ho (in the middle), but here is one from nine years ago.

A Netflix survey found that 61% of users regularly watch between 2-6 episodes of a show in one sitting.  Two, fine...six too much...anything more, dangerous.  That was me last night.

I had the benefit of a two-hour afternoon nap, so I was in good shape to watch a few Netflix offerings.  I usually watch those series I focused on a week ago in this blog site.  However, that can get old, so I went into a search mode and noticed something I had recently read in TIME.  Went to Rotten Tomatoes, and wow, 84% by reviewers and 98% by the audience.

So I clicked on it at 6:20PM, and it said two parts.  That should be two hours at most, I thought.  Watched the first episode and went to the second.  Then, #3 comes on, so, I thought, oh, each part must have been two hours long, so there would be a #4.  Yes, but after that came episode #5.  Each segment is 49 minutes long.  I then understood.  Two Parts mean Two Seasons.

It was now 10:30PM.  I had a snack.  This is one reason why you shouldn't binge, for you eat and drink more than you should.  Rarely is this a salad.  Something like white wine and potato chips or buttered pop corn are especially desired.  Fortified, the series was so gripping and captivating that I thought, okay, one more.  Then another to episode #7.  It was 1:45AM.  Not a huge problem because I'm in quarantine and had nothing to do the next day.  I could just sleep, right?

But I had trouble going to sleep and ended up with only two hours when I was awakened to a knocking on my door, for breakfast was being served.  I live in 15 Craigside where you are treated like a child.  You thus don't quite live your life, your way.  If you don't pick up your meal, you get a call.  If you fail to open your door by 10AM you get a visit because they're afraid you might have had a stroke or worse.  This is independent living with conditions.

I never did say what I binged on because some time soon there will be a Part 2 reviewing the series.  I now find out there are 20 episodes, so I will need to survive the above two more times.

Further, Netflix found that 74% of households have at least one streaming service and that teens spend 7.5 hours watching a screen, in addition to what they need to do at school or for homework.  But they're different from olds, like me, for they spend time on things like YouTube.

So what is so terrible about binge-watching?

• Not best for our mental and physical well-being.
• Isolation.
• Eating large amounts of unhealthy food.
• Poor sleep quality, causing fatigue and insomnia.

Also:

• Adults who watched more than 3 hours of TV/day doubled their risk of premature death.
• Exacerbates diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
• You could get addicted.  Thank heavens, sport programs are returning.  But I do binge on them, too.  Will I just be adding to my problem with Netflix and Amazon Prime?

If you are so entertained that you must binge, stretch and so forth in place and take regular mini breaks.  Absolutely don't snack.  But if you must (this is me saying this, not the experts), consume half what you normally might.  Better to binge with others, so you can share the experience.  However nearly 60% rather watch alone.

At some point when out of lockdown, you will be saved, for most can't, or can't justify, wasting so much time.  Back-to-back-to-back, The West Wing would take five straight days of watching, the whole 24 series 146 straight hours.  Only those who don't work, like retirees, continue to be in trouble.

Thankfully, something called hedonic adaptation (HA) could save you.  This is a psychological phenomenon where your viewing pleasure decreases with time so that you find something else to do.  Yet, for some, the gratification of seeing a story from start to finish overwhelms HA.  Further, if a series is into, say, five seasons, if you don't regularly watch, you forget what previously happened.  This is especially so if you're old.  All these decisions.

I'm now into 1994...

...Joseph Vadus (that's him to the left when he was Chief Technology Officer for NOAA) and I co-chaired a workshop in Kona, where the participants came to a conclusion that a 100,000 square foot (one hectare) floating platform could be built for $500 million, half the cost of one B-2 bomber, with a target date of the Year 2000.  The notion of half a billion dollars scared funding agencies and congressional staffers.  So a decision was made to pursue specific marine bio-product and ocean enhancement pathways, which someday in the future could be integrated unto a floating platform.  It was left to the private sector to develop OTEC.

Now, 20 years later, still no floating platform for the Blue Revolution.  However, I'm hosting a session in my Manoa Campus office next month to re-start the effort.

In less than three minutes all the #1 hits of 1994.  Otherwise for the year:

• Nancy Kerrigan attacked by assailant hired by Tonya Harding's ex-husband.
• Edvard Munch's The Scream is stolen and found.

• China gets first internet connection.
• Chunnel Tunnel opens.
• Nelson Mandela inaugurated as first black South African president.
• Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman murdered.  O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the crime.

• Aum Shinrikyo cult sarin gas attack at Matsumoto Station subway.  Leader Shoko Asahara was executed in 2018.
• Jeff Bezos founds Amazon.

• North Korean President Kim Il-sung dies, and his son (Kim Jong-un's father) takes over.
• Woodstock '94, the 25th anniversary of Woodstock 1969.
• Major League Baseball goes on strike and World Series cancelled, first time since 1904.

I'll end with Bill Maher making fun of Donald Trump:

By the way, in case you did not know, if you click on the bottom right of the above Blogger link, you will see a dotted square.  If you click on that, you will view the whole video on full screen.  To return to this page, click on "esc" located on the top left of your computer keyboard (at least that is where mine can be found for a Mac system).

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