This study proposes media audiences engage in 2 types of TV binge watching: intentional and unintentional. Using the differential susceptibility to media effects model as a framework, we draw from research on sensitivity theory and uses and gratifications to test whether unintentional binges are more likely to result in addiction symptoms, and whether this is due to impulsivity as a personality trait. Using an online survey, we find (a) most of our sample has engaged in both types of binge watching, (b) addiction symptoms were more common after unintentional binges, and (c) impulsivity exerts an indirect effect on addiction in the case of unintentional binging only, by increasing unintentional binging frequency. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

This study focuses attention on scholarship on mass media effects. Our purpose is to profile that effects literature in terms of specific medium tested, type of content, use of theory, use of method, and type of effect. We conducted a content analysis of the mass media effects literature published in sixteen scholarly journals published from 1993 to 2005.

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