Obsessed with Netflix's You? This is what it says about your personality

Our favorite TV shows say a lot about us. Some of us spend way too much time watching re-runs of Friends, while others will spend their weekend cuddled up watching horror movies and crime documentaries. And it turns out that liking one show, in particular, can tell you a lot about your personality—so if you’re a fan of You on Netflix get ready for a personality low-down.

The findings come from a study done by Tombola, which found that an average person watches 112 hours of TV per month—that’s nearly four hours every day. And what we’re choosing to fill those hours with is quite revealing.

The data found that if you watch a lot of reality shows, you’re likely to be a very sociable, gregarious person, while if you go for shows like The Crown you’re fashionable and cultured and love tradition. And most interestingly, if you’re someone who binge-watches shows like You, you’re very perceptive and are able to release your own emotional stresses by watching tense thrillers. 

Michael Padraig Acton, a psychological therapist, explains that people who enjoy thrillers are often “projecting their own inner stress on the unfolding drama, and they can detach, relax and achieve emotional release when the crime is solved”.

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If you didn’t already know, You is a psychological thriller about a man called Joe Goldberg who gets intensively obsessed with his love interest of the season and does everything in his power to get close to her—even if that means bumping off a few people along the way.  

Joe is a sociopath, stalker and murderer and so far he has got away with his crimes for two seasons. Fans of the show just can’t get enough of the intense plot and charismatic lead, played by Penn Badgley.

So if you’re a fan, it could be because you have a very perceptive mind, you enjoy trying to work out the twists and you like being completely distracted from your day-to-day stresses. If you love a  thriller, you’re also likely to be extroverted and adventurous.

As Dennis Relojo-Howell, founder of Psychreg, says: “In a thriller genre, the threat of death or capture is ever-present, and clever plot twists usually complicate the matter. That’s why people who have adventurous personalities tend to appreciate thriller films.”

The data also found that the star signs most likely to be fans of such shows are Sagittarius and Aquarius. Sagi’s love stimulation, and to feel exhilarated and alive, while Aquarius are very intuitive and like to empathize with the victims and see justice served.

So while some may think spending your free time watching a show about a murderer is a weird way to unwind, it’s actually pretty healthy and can help you to offload and relax.