The best streaming platforms for your mental health

Mental health is becoming an increasing priority for Americans across the country.

90% of the population believes there is currently a mental health crisis, with top causes attributed to personal finances, politics, personal relationships, and work. 

Where do people turn to get their minds off their problems? For many, the answer is television. According to research, there’s an increased correlation between binge-watching and feelings of depression, social interaction anxiety, and loneliness or escapism. 

So it’s not much of a surprise that the average American adult watches television for almost three hours daily and digital video for four hours per day. In other words, television content makes up a huge part of people’s lives and is often used as a coping mechanism.

Altering daily habits could play a role in improving mental health alongside professional care. That’s why Hers looked at the 10 most popular streaming services in the U.S. to rank them based on three categories related to media consumption and mental health: 

• Default autoplay: Research shows that most viewers feel that the autoplay feature on streaming platforms tends to result in binge-watching television and spending more time in front of the TV than planned. Some streaming platforms make autoplay the default option, while others allow users to turn it on themselves. Hers scored platforms with the default setting lower than those that require viewers to manually enable autoplay features. 
• Violent and frightening content warnings: Consuming violent media may result in increased anxiety in general as well as violent dreams when watched before going to bed. Hers looked at each platform’s top original series in 2024 and ranked them by the percentage of shows that had violent or frightening content warnings. The lower the percentage, the better the score. 
• Number of titles available: Having more options available to choose from helps viewers choose a TV show or movie based on their mood. Streaming platforms with a higher volume of titles available were ranked higher than those with more limited options.

Key Findings

• Disney+ reigns as the best streaming platform for mental health largely thanks to autoplay as an opt-in feature and a diverse content library.
• Max and Peacock round out the top three streaming platforms for mental health with more non-violent options available compared to most streaming services. 

Here’s the full list of the 10 largest streaming platforms and how they rank for mental health.

Hers

Best Streaming Platforms for Mental Health in 2024

1. Disney+
2. Max
3. Peacock
4. Netflix
5. Amazon Prime Video
6. ESPN+
7. Paramount+
8. Hulu
9. Apple TV+
10. Starz

Streaming Platforms for Mental Health: Trends and Insights

Find out how the top 10 streaming platforms break down based on each data category related to mental health. 

Which Streaming Platforms Have Default Autoplay?

Disney+ is the only streaming platform on this list that doesn’t default to autoplay. The other nine let viewers opt out of autoplay, but they must do so manually.

Which Streaming Platforms Have the Lowest Percentage of Violent Content Warnings?

Platforms With the Lowest Percentage of Violent Content Warnings

1. ESPN+
2. Max
3. Disney+

Which Streaming Platforms Have the Most Titles to Choose From?

Platforms With the Most Titles

1. Amazon Prime Video
2. Netflix
3. Peacock

Methodology: How Scores Were Calculated

Hers started off by looking at the top 10 streaming platforms in the U.S. based on subscriber count. From there, each one was ranked based on three categories: whether or not autoplay was a default feature, the percentage of original series with new episodes in 2024 that had violent or frightening content warnings in IMDB reviews, and how many titles overall were available to U.S. viewers, according to JustWatch.com. 

Get the data.

Three Tips for Maximizing Mental Health While Streaming TV

Develop more mindful television habits with these three tips that can help support your mental health.  

1. Turn off autoplay: Most streaming platforms enable autoplay as the default, making it more difficult to stop watching television when your favorite show automatically starts playing the next episode. Navigate to your account settings to toggle this feature off. 
2. Limit how much TV you watch each day: Even with autoplay turned off, it’s easy to get sucked into hours of binge-watching your favorite series. Paired with social media scrolling and work hours potentially spent behind a laptop, the result is a lot of time spent on screens. Consider deliberately choosing a maximum number of hours or episodes you watch each day to allow time for decompressing in other ways.
3. Avoid watching TV right before bed: This tip is especially important if you like shows with violent or scary scenes, which can impact your dreams and quality of sleep. Even falling asleep to something relaxing on TV may lower melatonin production, which is a hormone that promotes sleep. It’s recommended to unplug from technology at least one to two hours before bed to help sleep better.

This story was produced by Hers and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.