The past Memorial Day weekend, Netflix released the highly awaited debut of the fourth season of Arrested Development with what they are calling overwhelming viewer success. Procera Networks reported that a third of all Netflix streamers that day watched at least part of the first episode on its release date.

As many know, Arrested Development originally aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006 until its surprising cancellation. It was only the recent rise of streaming media that allowed Netflix to “revive” the series. In fact, the newest season is a Netflix Original, and like other Netflix Originals, was released in its entirety. That way, people could binge-watch the full season in a single day if they wanted, and binge they did. Procera reported that one out of 10 viewers watched all 15 new episodes of Arrested Development in a single day. And according to David Hurwitz, the Arrested Development creator and writer, this was all part of the plan.

It just so happens that Hurwitz wrote the newest season of Arrested Development with Netflix viewer habits in mind, and tailored the episode flow to make clicking the “next episode” button that much easier. Hurwitz may be the first writer to use this strategy of television writing, but as the popularity and usage of Netflix continues to grow like wildfire, he will certainly not be the last.

As far as business models go, I believe that Netflix is ingenious: Give people diverse products, when they want it, free from ads and at a cheap price. Who could ever argue with that?

I am, however, quite wary to accept this most recent step, and believe it may lead television entertainment down the wrong path. The company that was once just a medium has now created its own content that is tailored to keep you not only hooked to the medium, but also bingeing. This may be fine and well if Netflix was the only one, but Amazon and AOL are following suit, with AOL set to release 15 original shows this coming fall. It is clear that this is not just a single phenomenon, but a full-scale media paradigm shift.

Now, some may argue that these bingeing capabilities have always been a part of the Netflix model, or concede that this newest strategy may not be the best, but is still steps above the current broadcast model with its weekly airings and constant commercials. To the former I say that yes, bingeing was always a possibility, but the content itself was never intrinsically tied to bingeing, and especially never used to promote bingeing. This is easy to see when the majority of shows offered on streaming media sites were once aired via broadcast, and relied heavily on weekly breaks to build anticipation during their original air-time. To the latter I also disagree, but in a much more sentimental way.

I hate commercials as much as the next person, but I do believe that having a set time for a television show is actually a much healthier thing for us, in both a physical and a social sense. Physical, because obviously we are not giving a large chunk of our day to sitting and staring at a screen, and social because having a set time allows a show to feel more like an event that others can join. How many of us have made a weekly tradition of watching a favorite show with friends or family, or have gone to work and discussed last night’s episode with co-workers?

Having these set blocks, or portions if you will, has always given television a way to connect back to the real world and made it more than just something to pass the time. But the minute we begin to embrace a culture of media that promotes the random devouring of shows, we lose television’s most redeeming aspect.

Now, at the end of the day, I know watching television isn’t exactly the healthiest activity to begin with, and the industry definitely has room for improvement, but allowing it to become something that keeps us on the couch longer and isolates us further certainly is not the direction it should be heading.