For many, family dinner means sitting down together and watching a show on TV while you eat. With the advent of cell phones and platforms like YouTube, you can watch whatever you want, anywhere. This means you could potentially watch something while you eat, every single meal you have, for as long as you live.
For me, it is hard to enjoy a meal if I don’t have the perfect video playing. I’ve delayed countless family dinners by scrolling through Netflix for the perfect show to watch together. And I am not alone! F Newsmagazine posted a survey across campus, collecting 89 responses about student and faculty eating habits in relation to consuming media.
“Watching short-term videos while eating is very distracting, and I take the time to search for a video to watch before I eat,” said School of the Art Institute of Chicago Student Aeris Johnson (BFA 2027).
Unfortunately, a side effect of indulging in both pleasures can result in overdoing both. In a Vice article, Suzanne Higgs, professor in the psychobiology of appetite at the University of Birmingham, talked about how watching videos while eating generally leads to overeating. Watching a video makes you less aware when you get the feeling of fullness during a meal. Add autoplay to this equation, and it’s easy to see how one episode can lead to three.
With that in mind, how can anyone blame us for wanting to enjoy a show while we eat? We are encouraged in every aspect of our lives to be as efficient and productive as possible. Eating while watching something only makes sense. This way, you get as much dopamine as possible from both activities.
Out of the respondents, only five (6.93%) responded “No” to whether or not they watch videos while they eat. Those who said no often said something along the lines of avoiding using screens; however, in a follow-up question about what people do when they aren’t watching videos, more than one still said they surfed the web. There is a perpetual need to be kept busy at all times.
Mo Beamon (BFA 2026) said, “I literally only don’t watch something while eating if I’m rushing, so I most likely am just scarfing my food down or maybe scrolling on my phone? But I watch something while eating almost 100% of the time.”
So if everyone is watching videos while they eat, what are they watching?
While there were many streaming services named, the vast majority listed YouTube as a platform they watch videos on. Sixty-Five percent said they watch between 10-30 minutes while they eat; 15 people said about an hour; nine people said under 10 minutes; and three people answered more than an hour. YouTube videos have a wide range of lengths, but most people aren’t watching feature-length films while they eat.
What people watch while they eat runs the gamut: gaming, livestreams, political news, comedy, TV shows, video essays, true crime, and critical theory were all listed. In some cases, people watch things while they eat for more than just entertainment, like trying to educate themselves while they eat.
Clare Phares (BFA 2026) said they watch “AntsCanada ant vivarium video series and educational videos from SciShow or PBS Eons.”
There is a specific kind of video people watch that goes hand-in-hand with eating, called Mukbangs. Mukbangs are videos where someone records or livestreams themselves eating a large amount of food for an audience, sometimes while talking to the viewer. People sometimes use this as a way to vicariously experience the pleasure of eating food they might otherwise be abstaining from.
Abigail Cordero (BFA 2029) said, “When I used to wrestle, I used to watch mukbangs when I was hungry and couldn’t eat.” Watching someone enjoy food can result in a similar satisfaction.
There is also the social landscape coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, which simultaneously kept us sharing meals and glued to our screens. Watching videos while eating offers some sort of escape to whatever situation you might be in. I fondly remember watching people play “Among Us” in the pandemic when I was at my loneliest — but just like with mukbangs, watching people be social isn’t the same thing as being social.
In the survey, the most common reply to, “What are you doing if you aren’t watching a video while you eat?” was, “Talking to friends.” Meals are meant to be shared, and I encourage people reading to consider planning an evening where they can share a meal with friends. Not only will you have a more enjoyable meal, but you will enjoy it more because you were awake to experience it — not on autopilot while watching something else.
