Have you ever invested hours upon hours of your weekly television viewing on a show, only to have the ending ruined by some rude social media post or big-mouthed colleague at work? It’s a common feeling, only made worse by the fact that TV has become such a huge part of our lives.
Just this week, I had the finale of Love Island UK (don’t judge) revealed to me via Twitter a WHOLE day before I was able to watch the show. Sadly, we’re one day behind here in Australia, so while the entirety of Great Britain were sharing their thoughts on the winning couple, I was sitting here with steam coming out of my ears.
It got me thinking: why are spoilers such a big deal these days?
In an interview with The Atlantic, psychology professor Thalia Goldstein explained that on some level our brains don’t distinguish fact from fiction. “This blurring actually happens at the neurological level: the conscious, thinking parts of our brain tell us that a story isn’t real, but the more primitive parts tell us it is.”
According to The Atlantic, this offers an explanation as to why spoilers are so life-ruining. “They remind us that a story is just a story. It’s hard to get transported when you already know where you’ll end up – in real life you don’t have that knowledge.”
Another study found that perhaps we don’t actually hate spoilers as much as we think we do. Researchers at the University of California found that not only did having a storyline spoiled not ruin the experience, it actually made it better.
“We found that whether we gave someone a spoiler or not didn’t really affect their suspense, their enjoyment, [or] how much they were pulled into the storyline,” the study stated.
Ok, I’m calling bull on that. Even though I’ve never watched an episode of Game of Thrones in my life, witnessing the furious reactions to spoilers on social media over the past few seasons was enough to make me even a little mad.
Maybe spoilers feel worse now because we’re in what is commonly referred to as the ‘Golden Age’ of television. With so many streaming services at our fingertips, and access to such a wide variety of films and television shows, it’s far easier to become emotionally-invested.
Sadly, there’s no way to completely avoid spoilers, unless you throw your phone away or take a hiatus from the Internet. At least we can all vent our frustrations together and hope for the love of God that the ending to our next favourite show isn’t spoiled. Fingers crossed.