Television is so good that we’re working less to watch more of it | Torsten Bell

New research reveals that the lure of the gogglebox reduces the hours we work and even encourages early retirement

We've all watched a lot of telly this past year. That's nothing to be ashamed of. If it's that or more Zoom, or even braving the weather in this shambles of a spring, I'm all for flicking on Netflix.

When the pandemic started, everyone news-binged to find out what was going on and started subscribing to streaming services galore. In April 2020, we averaged 6.5 hours viewing a day against five in 2019. As the pandemic dragged on, people stopped bothering with the news (unless Boris Johnson was announcing a new lockdown), but kept streaming box sets, partly because TV is really good. You don't need a lockdown to make you watch Normal People or The Queen's Gambit.