The Life & Times of a Netflix Addict

MUSE Weekly: 

I’ve headed down a dark and dangerous path. I shouldn’t have done it, I know; and now there’s really no turning back. It’s just that everyone was doing it, and I had to try it out for myself. The time to do it was never really going to be right, but it was almost inevitable. Then there was yesterday: it rained… and it happened.My name is Avery and I am a Netflix addict.As the rain incessantly continued to fall and the coziness factor of the day continued to rise, the temptation to make absolutely nothing of my sleepy Saturday grew stronger and stronger. Eventually caving, my housemates and I decided to break in our new Apple TV and watch a movie, thus taking my Netflix virginity. Until this point, I had only been subjected to rumors about this mythical “Netflix,” hearing the following comment numerous times on campus: “OMG I watched like a hundred episodes of "Breaking Bad" on Netflix yesterday. I’m totally addicted.” From the moment we logged in, I understood why. My eyes lit up as I entered this spectacular world of endless possibilities. Pandora’s box had been opened, and there was no chance I was I was closing that bad boy any time soon.After brief deliberation, we came to a sensible conclusion: why watch just one movie when we could park ourselves in front of the TV and rip through a television series for hours on end? Why not spend every waking moment watching a show, so that we got absolutely nothing else accomplished? Well my friends, this is exactly what we did.Our show of choice was “Orange Is The New Black,” a fantastic Netflix Original Series that tells the story of Piper Chapman, a woman in her early thirties who is sentenced to fifteen months in prison for a crime committed ten years prior. Based on Piper Kerman’s memoir of the same title, Orange (yes, we’re on a first name basis) is equal parts shocking and intriguing. Needless to say, my housemates and I spent the rest of the day and night immobile, soaking in the glory of both Orange and its proud mama Netflix.“TV addiction,” “Binge TV’ing,” whatever you want to call it-- if you consider yourself an addict, you’re not alone. I know it. I’ve been there. I was there yesterday, and it’s serious. The addiction starts something like this: a friend recommends a show to you a few times. So you mull it over, give it brief consideration. Finally you go online and watch it—half because you figure it might be alright and half because you just want to shut them up. The first episode ends and leaves you kind of confused; unsure about what all the hype is for. If you’re smart (which you most definitely are) you figure you’ve got nothing better to do with your time but to spend it watching another episode. And then the second episode ends, and you think: “Wow. That was actually kinda good.” So you watch another. And another. Before you know it, it’s 4AM, your eyes are bloodshot, and you’ve finished season one. And so it continues. The show proceeds to consume your thoughts. Literally every time you do anything, you think how your time would be much better spent if you were watching your show instead. Kind of like right now, as I write this and have a staring contest with the TV across the room. All I want to do is enter the beautiful world of Netflix and hang out with my good friend Orange. Yours Creatively,Avery Hoffman, Social Media Team  + MUSE Weekly bloggerImage: Tumblr