Although in relationships the personality of each of the members of the couple has a great influence, it is no less true that the habits that are shared are the ones that really make that love bond work or not . We may not look too much like the person we are dating, but if there are routines in our daily lives that make us feel a special connection, the emotional bond will be strengthened.

Decades ago, these healthy relationship habits could be walking around, going to a particular place full of calm, or just chatting. Today, to all these possible sources of shared well-being, a new routine has been added, which is very common in relationships: watching television series together . This routine also has special advantages, according to research.

Watching series and movies as a couple brings together more

Times change and so do relationships. The development of new technology may have led to the formation of love ties between people from very different backgrounds, without circles of common friends, but the easy access to the pieces of fiction on television or posted on the Internet help these couples to create their own stories , shared anecdotes and, in general, all kinds of beliefs, opinions and emotions linked to the hobby of following series together.

According to research, watching series at the same time becomes an emotionally significant experience that is experienced as something shared, in a way similar to what would happen if the members of the couple lived in first person relevant events that occur in their close social circles. Fictional characters become part of both partners’ lives, and this makes them feel closer.

How do you know this? A team of psychologists from the University of Aberdeen, led by researcher Sarah Gomillion, have designed a way to measure the effect that series, films and TV programmes have on relationships, as we shall see.

How was the study done?

For this research, the results of which have been published in the scientific journal Journal of Personal and Social Relationships , the psychologists recruited 259 students with stable partners (the average duration of these relationships was 16 months) to answer questions on questionnaires designed specifically for this research.

These questions addressed issues related to the level of satisfaction with the relationship, how much time was spent watching TV series as a couple, and how many friends were shared with the couple. Also included was how much time was spent reading books together.

The results showed that people who shared more friends with the couple and who were used to watching more TV series with the other person showed a higher level of satisfaction with their relationship. However, the link between watching television together and feeling good with the partner was much stronger in those people who shared few or no friendships with the other. On the other hand, the high scores in mutual trust and sentimental closeness stood out.

In a second part of the research, another 128 people with partners were taken as volunteers and, in this case, divided into two groups. The first group was asked to think about the number of friends they shared with their partner, and the second group was asked the opposite, to think about non-shared friends.

Then, all the volunteers answered questions about the amount of television and book reading time they shared with their partner, about the degree of motivation they felt for spending more time sharing these kinds of moments , and about their level of satisfaction with the relationship.

The results showed that those people who were more accustomed to sharing television time with their partner and who were in turn conditioned to think about their lack of shared friendships tended to express more desire to spend time watching series, movies and programs together , as if they knew that this was beneficial for their relationship.

A little “blanket and film” doesn’t hurt

Of course, these data are only an approximation of how stopping moments together watching series can strengthen the common experiences and the references we use in our daily lives to express ourselves with our partner; it is still necessary to investigate further and to know if there is a pure cause-effect relationship between that habit and the strength of the love bonds.

Besides, we must remember that all excess is bad , and almost certainly make those moments lying on the couch the main basis of a relationship cannot be good (sooner or later the motorcycling will take its toll, if not the back pain). However, for the moment we have more excuses to make a whole ritual of this hobby based on the “blanket and film”. The emotional life can be grateful in the short term.