TV is an intimate, powerful, and universal source of connection to others. Talking about our favorite shows and movies brings us closer to people near and far. So, what would happen if we couldn’t talk about it?

We explored this question in our new study, Did You Watch? The Power of Talking About TV. To accomplish this, we recruited 24 households from 7 countries around the world. For almost two weeks, there was one rule: they could not talk about TV.

That meant no conversations about TV at home or with friends. No following anything related to TV on social media. No reading blogs about TV or listening to podcasts about TV content. People were free to watch TV as much as they liked – but they had to keep it to themselves.

Check out the video below to see how our participants handled this assignment and find out what we learned about the power of “TV talk.”