An Unhealthy Love Affair…
With Netflix.
It starts when you want to spend a relaxing night in, or when you’ve got a little time to spare. You think to yourself, “Sure, I’ve got time to watch a show or a movie.” You open the oh so lovely Netflix and it begins. Your inevitable, slow demise. The amount of buttons you can initially click sends you in a frenzy. You rate one title you’ve recently seen because there’s no harm in that. Suddenly, another pops up. You rate that one as well. Before you know it you’re on the ratings page rating everything from rom-coms to action to comedy flicks. More time than you think has passed, and you realize haven’t even thought about what you’re going to watch. You collect yourself, and return to the home page.
The options are overwhelming. Let’s say you want to watch a movie. How many categories can there be?? Everything you just rated has created new genres. You have a whole sections classified as “High School Movies” because you watched The Breakfast Club. There’s another called “Independent Movies” because you rated Pulp Fiction. You don’t want to make any rash decisions so you scroll through all the options — even the ones toward the end of the lists that are horrible and you have no interest in watching. Because it’s too late, you’re mesmerized by the way the titles move across your screen. You finally pick a movie and as the red screen is loading and changing into the film you know that Netflix is in control.
Rewind. You opened Netflix to watch a TV show, not a movie. Just a simple 20 or 40 minute episode. There are no options, you already know which show you are clicking on. There can be no foul play. So you go to your show full of confidence. It’s probably under the “recently watched” tab. You read the brief description of the previous episode to refresh your memory and press play. You’re feeling good, on top the the world. Netflix doesn’t own you. Hell, you just picked something to watch in under 5 minutes, you win. Then it happens, the show ends.
Suddenly that little 15 second counter pops up. There is no pause button. You’re only options are “back to browse” and “more episodes.” But you only planned on watching a single show. One. It’s got to be easy to click out of the webpage right? You can’t though, because there’s music playing, drawing you in. The description for the upcoming episode is also displayed, intriguing your curiosity. 15 seconds is not enough time — it’s almost over and you’re heart is pounding. I need more time. The next episode starts and you’ve lost all will power. You’re firm resolve is broken and have no desire to close the browser now.
Before you know it, one episode turns into 4 and you’ve become a Netflix vegetable. You didn’t clean your room like you planned, your laundry is sitting in the basket because your intentions of washing clothes were replaced. You are so behind on things you actually need to do. You love Netflix. How could he do this do you? Again. You swear your relationship is working. And that’s when you realize that perhaps you’re involved an unhealthy love affair — with Netflix.
