In this age of texting and video games, many have fallen under the allure of Netflix, and can you honestly blame them?  With a wide array of popular TV shows and movies such as Breaking Bad and Sherlock, it’s easy for anyone to throw away an afternoon or a few hours of sleep just to find out what happened to their favorite character.  But why do so many people use Netflix as a form of entertainment?

Let us take a step back for some perspective.  If you’re hooked onto a running show like Arrow, and you watch it on network TV, you have to wait 168 hours (one week) to see the next exciting episode.  During all of this time, you’re waiting eagerly to find out how the story evolves.  For someone who loves Arrow, this wait for the next episode can be incredibly irritating, and the feeling becomes a lot worse if an episode ends on a cliffhanger.

Now, let us look at this from a different point-of-view, specifically from a Netflix binge watcher’s perspective.  Instead of waiting the whole 168 hours between episodes, a Netflix subscriber only has to wait the time it takes to grab a quick snack or hit the “continue watching” button. As a result, says junior Ashtin Bowman, “I prefer to binge watch it.”

Sounds good, but consider this:  If you’re devoting hours of your life towards binge watching whatever interests you on Netflix instead of doing important things like sleep, then you may be addicted to Netflix.

At this point you’ve probably heard about how this generation doesn’t exercise self-control due to a desire for instant gratification.  Let’s say someone is following a season of Arrow that isn’t on Netflix.  Well, if that person is used to simply binge-watching their way through a series, their personal life and work or study habits are probably suffering.

Indeed, many students find themselves ignoring certain crucial activities (such as sleep and homework) over binge watching.  No matter how cool you may feel bragging to your friends about staying up until 3 AM to watch Arrow, you’re still losing precious hours of sleep.  This can affect certain aspects of your life like studying for that SOL, or even driving.  In fact that is one of the hallmarks of an addiction:  According to Merriam’s dictionary, an addiction is “an unusually great interest in something or a need to do or have something.”

If you do come to the conclusion you’re addicted to Netflix, I’ve got some good news and some bad news.  The good news is that you can save a lot of money to watch some of the best shows in TV history.  The bad news is that the rest of your life might fall apart.  As for me, whether or not this obsession is cancerous to my health, I’m going back to Doctor Who.  Allons-y!