Couches have never been so potatoed since the arrival of Neflix. Suddenly, dates are home-delivered, TV shows are gulped in season gorgings and Blockbuster has vanished “” or been banished from the entertainment-providing building.
On a normal weeknight, Netflix accounts for almost a third of all Internet traffic in North American homes. That’s more than YouTube, Hulu, Amazon.com, HBO Go, iTunes and BitTorrent combined. And out of the 36 million subscribers, the college-aged are among the top viewers.
The time-shifting, cord-cutting service has allowed students to schedule their entertainment around their agenda. Netflix has also learned the way to a student’s heart is through his or her wallet, with a monthly fee costing less than the average movie ticket. Furthermore, on a campus of iPads, iPhones and gobs of other iStuff, Netflix also caters to the device assortment of ACU students.
In turn, Netflix has become as quintessential as a Keurig to the student lifestyle. So with great binging comes greater self-restraining.
A few tips as you stream, er, study your nights away:
- When choosing a new TV series, opt for one with all seasons available. For nothing is more heart-wrenching than the shift from instant-gratification to immediate-halt of a story plot.
- ACU Appropriate – screen before you stream, lest you are caught catching up on your raunchy TV series in the middle of Brown Library. Shame on you, freshmen are studying. Shame on you, God is watching.
- Balance out your binge choices. For example, should you take in a season or four of Breaking Bad, lighten the load with some New Girl laughs.
- Set a time-limit on your TV-streaming feast for school and sanity’s sake. No one should shove aside bottomless ocean of assignments. And no one should go through the emotional rollercoaster of an entire TV series in the span of a few days.
Four billion hours of Netflixed entertainment are watched every three months. So let us remember the fatal attraction of Netflix is also what we often forget to do: shift the time and cut the cord.
