Confessions of a U of A Netflixaholic
Too much chill in my life
While it was once just an innocent way to have a variety of movies and TV shows on hand, Netflix has become a sensation that nearly everyone our age seems to be talking about and spending time on. Anyone can check the University of Arizona Yik Yak and find multiple posts about who’s down to “Netflix and Chill.” Continue scrolling down and I’m sure you’ll find even more posts that are spin-offs of Netflix and chill such as U of A’s corny joke of “D2l and Chill.”
But let’s not forget those of us who see Netflix as more than a gateway to a hookup or a great app to fire up for a movie night with our hallmates. Others of us live and die Netflix. We all know that one person who if they’re not sleeping and they’re not in class, it is no question that they are watching Netflix. If you don’t know that person, then you probably are that person.
I thought that going off to college would limit the amount of time I spent on Netflix. Between classes, studying, sorority requirements, and partying, who really has any additional time to binge watch Netflix? Well, the answer is many of us. I personally had plenty of time to waste on Netflix before the last couple of weeks of the semester. I could easily get comfortable on my bed and watch three 55 minute episodes of Dexter in one sitting.
Coming back to the dorm after my last class of the day to find my roommate watching Netflix was a normal occurrence. It wasn’t until just before Thanksgiving break though that she decided to try out a new series…
Personally, Grey’s Anatomy is one of my favorite shows. Unlike my roommate, I am up-to-date with the show, but I am sure that she too will soon be all caught up. It has been just over a month since she started watching and she is already onto season 6. Once you find that show that gets you hooked, that’s when the real addiction begins.
“I should probably study, but I really want to watch the next episode.. Okay, I’ll study for half an hour and then watch an episode to reward myself.”
These are the famous words that I heard multiple times during finals week. We’ve all been there before. How can you possibly focus on studying for finals when all that you can think about is Meredith Grey and McDreamy?! But Netflix doesn’t just take away from the studying that us college students need to do, it also adds to our sleep deprivation.
“I’ll just watch one more and then go to sleep…”
Instead of going to sleep at a reasonable hour when we know that we should get up before noon the next day, my roommate and I have been guilty of binge watching Friends or The O.C. until 4 am and, unfortunately, not getting out of bed before noon.
But so what if our ratio between studying and Netflixing isn’t exactly balanced? And is it really that bad if we’re slowly starting to measure time in the number of episodes we’ve watched since the weekend rather than by the actual days of the week? There are much worse things that we could be doing in our free (or not so free) time. So judge us students all you want and continue reminding us that we were sent to college for a reason (and that this reason was not so we could have a new location to sit around and watch TV/movies), but I for one am going to go return to my Friends marathon.
If you need me, you’ll know what I’m doing.