Slow watching in the age of binge and reels: Young audiences of Turkish TV dramas

Abstract

This article explores how young audiences in Turkey engage with the slow temporality of Turkish TV dramas (dizis) amid an era dominated by binge-watching and short-form video culture. While streaming platforms promote fast-paced, compressed narratives, Turkish dramas retain exceptionally long episodes—often exceeding 150 minutes. Drawing on focus groups with university students, the study examines how young viewers negotiate these extended durations. Rather than dismissing linear television as outdated, participants integrate slow-paced series into daily routines, family rituals, and nostalgic attachments, turning them into temporal infrastructures of care and belonging. The article argues that slow watching functions as both a mode of attention and a cultural practice that reclaims time from the acceleration of digital media, positioning dizi viewing as a form of shared affect, continuity, and subtle cultural resistance against the moralism and homogeneity of contemporary Turkish television.