What happens next?

There is a reason why we binge. It’s a secret, but I’m willing to share it with you.

I just started watching season 4 of Stranger Things and it’s impossible to stop. And it’s not just that Netflix starts the next episode automatically.

We keep watching movies or TV series because we want to know what happens next. Our curious brains love mysteries.

Even if we think we know how the story will unfold, we want to see if we are right. Whatever happens, it satisfies us. If things happen the way we predicted, we feel smart. “I told you he was the bad guy! I knew it!” If not, we feel surprised. “Oh, she died… I didn’t see that coming”.

Stories keep us glued to the screen or page when they keep us continuously anticipating. Or as Francis Geblas so perfectly explains in his highly recommended book Directing the Story: The secret of storytelling is story-delaying.