IDK. I've certainly "binged" on reading an engrossing novel straight through. I don't get the same engagement watching TV. I've binged on TV for maybe 4 hours at a time then I just get to feeling like a completely lazy slob. I've spent 12+ hours on a book more than once.
Television is hypnotic. I vaguely remember someone claiming that watching television was more effective at slowing breathing and metabolic rates than meditation and yoga but without making one feel refreshed. I can't remember where or when I saw this.
But perhaps some part of the population is getting out from under that now that fewer people watch broadcast television favouring on demand services instead.
I don't watch broadcast television any more at home but I do when visiting family and I now find it immensely irritating except for the few splendid things like Suchet's Poirot (better than the books in my opinion).
And occasionally a gem like Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility turns up as it did on a British TV channel last week. Perhaps it was the story and my own immediate circumstances together but it had me in gales of laughter at one moment and gushing with tears at another. I just turned the television off afterwards.
Perhaps the negative feeling you get when binging television is related to memory and comprehension. There was a study called "The impact of binge watching on memory and perceived comprehension"[1] that found that you remember less of what you binge, and more of what you watch with intervals. V. interesting.
I feel like reading requires more active engagement of my brain than passively watching a TV show. Perhaps it's as simple as a mechanism similar to exercise, where spending a day walking is good for our bodies but sitting is not, spending a day with your brain in a totally passive consumption mode might be the equivalent for mental and cognitive wellness.
