Netflix & Skill: binge-watch Squid Game or learn Korean?

Learning provider, City Lit, reveals what you could have learnt in the time spent watching popular series.

• 51% of people believe that binge-watching tv and streaming services can negatively impact mental health
• 52% of people feel they don’t spend enough time learning new skills
• 95% of people agree learning a new skill positively impacts their mental health
• Instead of watching Bridgerton season 1 and 2, viewers could complete a course on the ‘Rise of the novel in the 18th century’

Britain’s biggest adult education college, City Lit, has revealed which learning courses and qualifications you could have completed in the time spent streaming popular TV series.

Looking at the most-watched Netflix TV series from the past year, City Lit collated Netflix series data on run times and paired them with education courses of a similar length. With City Lit’s recent survey indicating that 52% of people feeling they don’t spend enough time learning new skills and 22% of people feeling guilty about the time they spend bingeing TV and streaming services, City Lit was keen to show how people could make simple swaps to make room for more learning.

In the time spent watching Season 1 of Squid Game, viewers could have completed a ‘Korean for beginners’ course. Instead of watching Bridgerton season 1 and 2, viewers could have completed a course on the ‘Rise of the novel in the 18th century’.

The full list of courses you could learn for the time spent watching streamed TV series can be found on the City Lit blog alongside the survey results.

With over 100 years of providing training and educational courses to their name, City Lit was keen to find out the impact learning new skills has on people’s mental health. Surveying 1,183 members of its own database, it discovered 95% people agree learning a new skill positively impacts their mental health and 91% agree it boosts their confidence. As part of its Mental Wealth Festival initiative, City Lit is keen to show people how they can boost their mental wealth – spending more time learning new skills that give people a sense of accomplishment.  

The study also revealed:

• 98% people agree learning a new skill feels like time well spent
• 94% people agree completing an educational course gives them a sense of accomplishment
• 52% people feel they don’t spend enough time learning new skills
• 51% of people believe that binge-watching tv and streaming services can negatively impact mental health
• 56% people believe that binge-watching tv and streaming services can negatively impact sleep
• 22% people feel guilty about the amount of time they spend binge-watching TV or streaming services
• 21% people believe they spend too much time watching TV / streaming services

Marketing and Communications Director of City Lit, Gordon Chi, said of the results:

“Spending time on personal development and learning clearly has a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing, but many of us struggle to find the time to dedicate to ourselves. Whilst we are big fans of some of the Netflix series ourselves, we wanted to show that something as simple as swapping a TV series for an educational course could not only provide you with new skills but enrich mental wealth by giving people a real sense of accomplishment.”