Time Wasting and the Contemporary Television-Viewing Experience

This article explores contemporary changes in television-viewing habits and experiences brought about by the advent of online streaming television services. It identifies Raymond Williams's concept of “flow” as essential to the traditional viewing experience and posits that the boundless choice of on-demand viewing services superficially disrupts the desirable experience of “flow” for contemporary viewers. Excessive choice and unfettered access to content has ironically left viewers nostalgic for traditional forms of television viewing. This nostalgia is apparent in the viewing habits of users of streaming television services and in the methods these services themselves employ to deliver programing to their users.