Does Netflix Kill The Illusion Of Time?

Einstein famously said that “The only reason time exists is so that everything doesn’t happen at once”.

Giving stiff competition to man made Greenwich Mean Time based on the imaginary Greenwich Meridien is Netflix Mean Time that is all set to challenge the illusion of time.

Several mystics and thinkers have said that time is just an illusion. From experiments with time machines to psychedelic drugs to spiritual practices, man has always tried to transcend time.

With Netflix we may just have actually slayed the illusion of time at least to some extent.

Circadian Rhythm

If we didn’t have clocks or the modern idea of time, we would have marked the passing of the day by sunrise, sunset and shadows of the sun. Or simply follow the circadian rhythm like animals and birds do for eating and sleeping on time to keep our body clock in order.

Social and Economic Time

The reason we need the concept of time in today’s complex human society is to keep collective human movements like getting to office, using shared transport like trains, working during business hours, gathering for community events etc in sync. Time seems primarily to be a necessary construct to maintain social and economic order in a society.

Shared Screen. Single time telecast.

In urban society, glued to our TV screens, our engagement with the flow of time is also determined to a large extent by the timing at which our favourite serials, films and sitcoms are broadcasted.

As a kid in the pre cable TV era, I remember Sundays were marked by the screening of the Indian epics Ramayan and Mahabharat on Doordarshan, the only channel in India that time. Families would gather together and take a break from all work to watch the very popular serial. Watching the program together and emotionally engaging with the plot gave us a sense of community.

Growing up, cable TV emerged and multiple channels evolved. I remember my evenings were defined by a daily dose of ‘The Little Wonder’, the cute little human like robot girl. I remember being upset when it was finally taken off air, because every evening for the next few days, time seemed to have stopped still and I felt disoriented.

Another classic family favourite was ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’. We would give our regular meals a miss and actually cook continental food to complement the British suspense. Again, the entire experience was fine tuned to a certain time when everyone watched the same program.

The common thread running through all these experiences was that we were forced to take time out of our regular schedules and gather together as a community in front of a shared screen at a certain specific time.

Shared screen. Multiple time telecasts.

Earlier this wasn’t a problem when life was less hectic. Then as people started living busier lives, repeat telecasts were played because the assumption was that alternate time options had to be given for the same experience. But, still it required people to mark a certain point of time even for the alternate experience.

Separate screens. Unrestricted viewing time.

Enter Netflix and its cousins.

With its pre recorded programs and films, one can now have unlimited access to shows at multiple points of time. There has been an evolution from :

• a limited viewing of a show at a restricted single point of time to
• a limited viewing of a show at restricted alternate points of time to
• an unlimited viewing of a show at unrestricted, infinite points of time.

While that does create an illusion of unlimited choice, it kills the illusion of time that separates two viewing experiences. It also gives us absolute control over when we want to view an event, unlike earlier times when both the content and the timing was decided by the broadcasting channel.

Control of time and Isolation

In real life, we may not yet be masters of our own destiny and have no control over events in our own life. But, we certainly have unrestricted control over the timing of our viewing experience now. This makes us some sort of masters over time, courtesy Netflix Mean Time.

But, the flip side of getting unlimited choice and unrestricted control over time is isolation. With each of us having the option to create personalised viewing experiences on personal screens, the chances of multiple people coming together for a shared viewing experience is going down.

Does unrestricted time create problems?

A status update by a friend on Facebook caught my eye “Too much Netflix, too little time”. That’s a funny paradox considering that the whole point of Netflix is to help us get the most out of our time.

Seems like the more choice we have, the lesser value we feel we are getting. When viewing is restricted, we do not have regrets about how much we have not watched because timings not working out due to external factors is always an excuse. But, with Netflix the onus is on us on how well we utilise our time to watch unrestricted content. We are wired to consume as much as we can on an unlimited buffet and if we feel we are not consuming as much as we should, we feel guilty of paying a subscription cost and at our lack of time management skills of keeping dedicated Netflix viewing time aside.

Time Warp

There are some who feel binging on Netflix is a time warp. They lose sense of time as they watch multiple movies and shows back to back. Unlike regular channels or even YouTube, there are no ads that jolts us back to Greenwich Mean Time. We remain fully immersed in a never ending stream of viewing experiences and are yet to fully comprehend and efficiently handle this new experience of having control over time.

Recently my mobile phone service provider gave me a complimentary one year subscription to Amazon Prime. I was kicked and was sure I would end up watching a lot of films. Surprisingly, I have only ended up watching one film in the last 3 months since the offer started. Each time I decide to watch something, an alter ego pops up and tells me that I can always watch the film later. So, why push myself to watch now? I usually end up watching the prime time reality shows or movies and shows being screened on TV at that time. The choice is between watching what is showing now on TV because I have no control over its timing. Or watching Netflix that I have full control over. Personally for me, the former wins because the illusion of time that man has always tried to transcend has strangely, suddenly become premium.