Binging the Loneliness Away? A Study on Streaming Habits and Loneliness Levels of Emerging Adults in Portugal

Auteurs

Résumé

The technological advances of the 21st century have changed audiences' media consumption habits. Audiences are no longer tied to schedules and breaks like on traditional television but can now have access to entire series in one sitting which can lead to compulsive audiovisual consumption, known as binge-watching.

This research aims to understand whether there is a relationship between the levels of loneliness of Portuguese emerging adults and the practice of compulsive streaming consumption. It is a quantitative study, with an N = 337 aged 18 to 30 and uses a questionnaire to collect data for statistical analysis.

Results show that there is a very significant relationship between the amount of time young people spend streaming and their levels of loneliness, and a very significant relationship between participant´s levels of loneliness and recurrent binge-watching behavior, also higher levels of loneliness are associated with compulsive consumption of audiovisual content via streaming platforms.

Bibliographies de l'auteur

Catarina Feio, Departamento de Comunicação e Arte, Universidade de Aveiro

Catarina Feio é doutoranda no programa doutoral em Novos Media da Universidade de Aveiro (2022 - presente), possui mestrado em Comunicação Multimédia (2020-2022) e licenciatura em Novas Tecnologias da Comunicação (2017-2020) pela mesma instituição. As suas áreas de interesse são o consumo de media, o consumo de notícias, a solidão, a participação política e o discurso político online. A sua população-alvo é a geração jovem residente em Portugal.

Lídia Oliveira, Universidade de Aveiro, Departamento de Comunicação e Arte

Lídia Oliveira holds a degree in Philosophy from the University of Coimbra (1990), a master’s degree in Educational Technology from the University of Aveiro, in partnership with the University of Valenciennes (France) and Mons (Belgium) (1995), and a PhD in Communication Sciences and Technologies (University of Aveiro,2002).

In 2009-2019 post-doctorate at CES – Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra; in 2010 degree of Aggregation in Communication Sciences and Technologies; in 2013-2014 post-doctorate/visiting researcher at the Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Anthropologie du Contemporain, from the École Des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales de Paris. In 2021-2023 degree in Psychology (in progress, 120 ECTS completed) at the University of Coimbra.

In 2020-2021 Fellow at Fundación Carolina (https://www.fundacioncarolina.es), at the Instituto de Cultura y Tecnologia – Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and in 2023 Fellow at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She is Editor of the Journal of Digital Media & Interaction.

José Manuel Martins, Universidade de Aveiro, Departamento de Ciências Sociais, Políticas e do Território

Jose Manuel Martins is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences at the University of Aveiro. He has a degree in Environmental Engineering (U. Aveiro), has a graduate degree in Environmental and Applied Fluid Dynamics (Belgium) and a PhD in Sciences Applied to the Environment (U. Aveiro). 

He participated in several national and European research projects. He is a member of the research group GETIN – Research Center on Territory and Innovation - and member of the Research Unit GOVCOPP - Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policy. He was Vice-President for the Environment at CCDRC - Coordination and Regional Development Commission of Centro Region - between 2005 and 2007. José Manuel Martins is author and co-authored over 60 papers presented at national and international conferences or published in scientific journals and books

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Publiée

2025-12-09

Numéro

Vol. 1 No 41 (2025): Estudos em Comunicação

Rubrique

Artigos

Licence

Licence Creative Commons

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