Nebojša Damnjanović is a Serbian born in Belgrade. Currently, he is a master's student of the English Language Department at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade. He conducted several minor research papers, also article and book reviews. His fields of inquiry are syntax-semantics interface, cognitive stylistics, experimental semantics and pragmatics, psycholinguistics, corpus linguistics, multimodality and literature. He speaks Serbian, English, Spanish and Catalan, and can also use French and Romanian language. Email: lingvistika.posao1@gmail.com

Introduction

For over three decades, the notion of playing video games and watching television has often been brought to relation with psychological addiction or possibly OCD – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This trend has become even more prevalent after the provision of more comprehensive broadband internet access since 2007. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought this topic again to fore since people's lives have been influenced in various respects by the COVID-19 pandemic, so much so that it also manifested itself on our selection of how we're going to fill our leisure periods and apply ourselves to novel situations (Barr & Copeland-Stewart, 2021, p.122). What has also contributed to this kind of reasoning is the fact that the employment of prize-driven conduct (e.g. online gaming) as supposed procedure of managing this type of situations could, in addition, noticeably grow during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and generate predispositions that would be hard to dispose of later (Xu et al., 2021, p.2). The nature of MMOs is that players can manage to get fully immersed into the game world with ease, transitioning to the state of absorption. Tellegen and Waller described absorption as:

A disposition for having episodes of ‘total’ attention that fully engage one’s representational (i.e., perceptual, enactive, imaginative, and ideational) resources. This kind of attentional functioning is believed to result in a heightened sense of the reality of the attentional object, imperviousness to distracting events, and an altered sense of reality in general (as cited in Cole & Hooley, 2013, p.427).

On the other hand, neither does Netflix fall wide of this mark since it is to a greater extent associated with attributes like weariness, subpar standard of sleep, insomnia, and mild disorder

of one's disposition (Umesh & Bose, 2019, p.182). Also, Kokho et al. and Kuo et al. (as cited in Jones S., Cronin J., & G. Piacentini M., 2018, p.497) reported that distinct differences among a more engaged and a more receptive classification of escapism are present (thus putting Netflix into the passive category), while Batat & Wohlfeil, Giddings and Molesworth stated that the concept of escapism is a self-chosen partitioning from an individual's particular present actuality (ibid.). Lastly, De Feijter et al. claimed that "the available evidence suggests that excessive binge-watching might lead to the impairment of daily functioning, disturbance in social life quality and sleep cycle" (as cited in Rahman & Arif, 2021, p.100). Nevertheless, majority of MMO and Netflix users (especially the younger generations) don't seem to express a desire to deviate from this type of habitual behaviour; ergo, the data obtained from these investigations present a treasure-trove of useful information for further analysis.

However, important is to notice that none of these researches were conducted in Eastern Europe, Serbia, or its neighbouring countries. Also, there is the presence of an intrinsic cultural component as why the previous researches are not comparable on the local level, i.e. Serbia and more specifically Belgrade. This is why the raison d'être of this study is to specifically focus on Belgrade and its student population, with the included temporal aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic. The central question to be examined in this paper is what are the negative (and possibly addictive) manifestations of playing MMOs and watching Netflix among university students in Belgrade (if there are any to begin with).

Research methods

The method in question was rather simple and straightforward. It consisted of creating a Google Docs (Google Forms) online questionnaire, and it was distributed over Facebook within a one-week time period, ranging from April 12 to April 19, 2022. During it, 26 people submitted their answers, of which 18 were female (69.23%), 6 of them were male (23.08%) and 1 was transgender (3.9%). The questionnaire was posted on various Facebook student groups with the aim of acquiring data from people with various interests and backgrounds, but also to provide an opportunity (at least theoretically) to gather data from several tens of thousands of potential respondents. The format of the aforementioned questionnaire was firstly aimed to establish a basic profile of individuals (first 6 questions) and additionally to determine what kind of influence does playing MMOs and watching Netflix have on them (separated in 2 groups of 17 questions), bearing in mind the fact that games and MMOs may not influence at all. Several questions required descriptive answers, putting this survey into the mixed-method category. Lastly, respondents' answers should provide at least a glimpse into their motivation as what exactly induces in them the need to spend their leisure time this way.

Looking at it from this standpoint, it was an impressive feat or achievement to gain such an amount of respondents in a single week, given the overarching time restrictions at hand. However, it is an irony that this amount is simultaneously the limiting factor for the scope of the study. Keeping the survey open for at least one quarter (3 months) could show us exactly how far this study can reach in its comprehensiveness. Furthermore, a noticeably disproportionate number of female respondents in comparison to the male ones was present (2.7:1 ratio), but overall, it did not pose a hindrance to the study's aim.

Finally, it would be worth mentioning that there were several lackings and limitations to the research as a whole. Other types of games, streaming services and genres weren't taken into account, as well as respondents' marital status, and their parents' level of education and gross income per month. Also, there is no mention of the platform of choice (PC, laptop, console, or phone) and the students studying in other major cities. All those parameters are to be left for investigation to people with a substantially higher level of expertise in this field for further study.

Discussion and analysis

From the sample acquired, 16 (61.54%) live with their families, 13 (50%) are from Belgrade and 24 (92.31%) are undergraduate students. Additionally, 6 respondents (23.08%) reported they play MMOs, 17 of them (65.39%) watch Netflix, while 5 (19.23%) answered negative on each; what is interesting to point out is that none of the respondents stated that they practice both. Also, there is the existence of a noticeable decrease in joy for these forms of entertainment among graduate students (3.9%, both Masters' and PhD), also only 7 students (26.92%) are in student dorms, and only two (7.7%) who rent apartments (one alone and one with one or more roommates). Mind you, there were 5 of them (19.23%) who answered that they neither play MMOs nor watch Netflix. In what manner should we approach this piece of data in the context of the research, remains open for debate. Nevertheless, it has proven to be of partial use.

The number of students located in Belgrade is relatively high (13), although a vast number of the ones from other cities (13) took part in the survey. Among the participants, only 4 were freshmen (15.39%), 5 sophomores (19.23%), while 9 were third (34.62%) and 8 (30.77%) were on the fourth year of their undergraduate studies, respectively.

There is an interesting difference between the user habits of these two cohorts. Firstly, 7 students answered how they use Netflix at night, while only 2 answers were noted for playing MMOs during the same time interval. In addition, it has been established that the respondents usually dedicate forthwith 2 up to 3 hours to one of these activities, 3 of them who opted for MMOs (50 %) and 12 for Netflix (70.59 %), respectively. From this, we can deduce that students in both cases (usually) reach a certain “threshold”, after which their needs are met. But also intriguing is that on a monthly level 4 students reported that they play MMOs up to 20 hours, while the same case with Netflix was reported by only 4 of them. Again, these data consist 66.67% and 23.53 % of people who opted for the first and the second option, respectively. Moreover, among Netflix users a much more prevalent occurrence is usage on a monthly level that is less than 10 hours or 10-15 hours, with 6 (35.29%) and 7 (41.18%) respondents.

Another interesting fact, as regards to practicing these two activities, is that enrolment at the faculty has induced changes in respondents' habits to a certain extent. There is an indication that among the respondents in both cohorts there may have been those who practiced both activities before. More specifically, in case of MMOs, the number of users decreased from 8 to 6, which shows a downward trend of 25%; what contributed to this as well could be the fact that some of the respondents selectively answered questions, which has been made possible by the way how the survey was configured. Conversely, in case of Netflix, the number of users almost doubled, demonstrating a steep incline of 70%. The indication of selective answering can also be concluded from the responses of certain individuals who stated that MMOs or Netflix do not affect their daily activities, and such responses were 100% in case of MMOs and 70.59% in case of Netflix. Additionally, it is also possible that there has been a certain type of "migration" in the case of users who played MMOs prior to the beginning of university attendance, and also, that there has been an increase in the number of Netflix users due to circumstances that represent “side effects” of the university expericence, such as the broader scope of obligations and increased level of intellectual intensity, which afterwards would leave little room for “agency” in one's spare time, but instead induced an inclination towards activities with less amount of "involvement" (which would be the case here).

Having this in mind, a bipartite research concept has been established to discern the differences between a more active and a more passive engagement in spending one's leisure time (and its potential side-effects) – the first being MMOs and an alternative viewpoint that was provided by implementing the less engaging way of entertainment in the form of Netflix.

Additional factors taken into consideration were how respondents' gaming and watching habits have changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020 and after alleged stabilization of the situation from September 2021 onwards. It is established that after February 2020 everything has remained the same with 83.33% (5/6) of MMO gamers, while the same has been the case with 58.82% (10/17) of Netflix users. Since September 2021 this trend has remained identical for the same percentage of MMO gamers, and, as for Netflix users, there has been a slight downward trend to 35.29% (6 respondents); this was probably the result of a unchanged number of MMO users, and a gradual decrease in amount of students who have watched Netflix more often between February 2020 and September 2021 (the first amounting 5 and the second from 5 to 3, respectively).

Also worth mentioning is that 33.33% (2/6) of MMO gamers and 17.65% (3/17) of Netflix users reported that they have experienced changes in their emotional state or overall mood before deciding to play a game or to watch films and series. This may lead us to a conclusion that individuals with a lesser degree of psychological stability could turn to MMOs far more often than to Netflix since games (by their nature) are more engaging and immersive. Furthermore, 58.82% (10/17) of Netflix users responded that they sometimes think about films and series which are on that platform. On the other hand, 66.67% (4/6) of MMO gamers rarely ponder about or recollect games when they're not playing them. The reasons why students engage in these activities most often were: in case of MMO gamers - boredom, before or after studying, feeling of joy and content; as for Netflix users the same ones, with the addition of depression and procrastination. In the end, Netflix users show a slight (dis)advantage ahead of MMO gamers (23.53 % [4/17] compared to 0% [0/6]) when referring to their inability to stop with their favourite pass time, which can be brought to relation with the responses on how they choose these activities after studying, work and during exam periods to relax and not think about further studies.

Conclusion