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I’m going to spoil your favourite TV show
Everyone gets mad about spoilers, but science suggests our concern about spoilers ruining our enjoyment of stories is overblown
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Research seems to suggest that viewers will still enjoy their shows, even if the ending has already been "spoilt" for them, says the writer.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PEXELS
DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.
Anna-Lisa Cohen
In this divisive era, when there are so few things we all still agree on, one point of basic civility stands unchallenged: You don’t mention the ending of a television show or movie if the person you’re talking with hasn’t seen it yet. It’s just basic human decency. Premature plot revelations are so far out of bounds that their name alone stands as a warning: spoilers. (On that note, and before we go any further: spoilers ahead.)
In the past few weeks, a dramatic revelation in Succession reignited the debate over how long spoilers should be suppressed on social media – and whether having advance knowledge of a momentous plot development (in this case: Logan Roy dies) ruins our enjoyment of a story. Recently, my colleagues and I conducted research to address this very question.
