Convenient Netflix accessibility creates binge-watching trend

Quick, easy, and inexpensive. For $7.99 per month, Netflix subscribers can access movies, documentaries, and television shows available to watch immediately on their computers, TVs, and other mobile devices.

While Netflix does not have any ingredients or additives to make it addicting, Seahawks are flocking to its services admittedly more often than they should.

“I stay up till four in the morning on a regular basis watching Netflix because ‘90210’ is very addicting,” freshman
Anahita Dhungel said.

According to a Newsweek article which sought to explain why people are so addicted to television, the number of households that view “non-traditional TV” on their computers and mobile devices has more than doubled since 2007 to five million.

Netflix has been able to take advantage of this trend by opening Netflix availability to mobile devices, forgoing its prior method of sending physical DVDs to houses. The closure of Blockbuster and decline in DVD popularity has also allowed Netflix to flourish.

“All of the Blockbuster stores have closed and no one wants to buy a DVD anymore,” sophomore Sarah Wilkowski said. “Netflix is right in your house so there’s no commute necessary.”

Part of what makes Netflix so addicting to teenagers is the ability to binge-watch. Binge-watching is the practice of marathon viewing multiple episodes of a television show in one sitting.

Netflix makes binge-watching convenient for subscribers to watch multiple episodes of a TV show consecutively with no breaks in between.

“The whole season of a TV show is just at your fingertips,” senior Jojo Kidane said. “Having to wait a full week to watch the latest episode on regular TV cannot compare.”

The process of choosing a show to binge-watch can be influenced by other people as well as Netflix itself.

“Tumblr helps a lot,” junior Jacquie Horvath said. “I follow people who post pictures of shows and I will more than likely look them up to see if I’d like them. My friends also tell me what they like and sometimes I even watch the Netflix suggestions to get some ideas of what to watch next.”

For some students, the ability to watch shows instantaneously has resulted in Netflix taking over their lives.

“One night I stayed up till five in the morning watching Netflix and I didn’t even notice,” senior Lindsey Gibson said. Self-proclaimed Netflix addicts expect the company will remain a constant element of our culture.

“Netflix will take over the world,” Kidane said.