Dear world, you have a Netflix problem

So I read this piece about Netflix in the New Yorker by Zain Khalid, which was equally as hilarious as it was a little too true for my liking. It would be fair to say it hit close to home. It was based on the premise that my fellow twentysomethings and I are wasting our youth watching Netflix, without even noticing. It got me thinking, so please have fun while you try to follow the below train of thought…

I think the reason we sometimes (a lot of the time) chose Netflix over, you know, real people, is because it’s turned into a legitimate excuse- it carries cultural capital. Basically, it’s not seen as lame. And what with ‘Netflix and chill’ becoming a stage in a relationship in its own right, it’s no wonder Netflix is a cultural phenomenon. To cut a long story short, Netflix has no shame.

In the article, Khalid referred to winter as, ‘Netflix season’…Really?! It’s only existed for a couple of years and we’re already giving it a season? Really. I’m not going to lie, I don’t have any ground breaking sociological conclusions to draw from this, other than I think we often use Netflix as a safety net. Netflix prays upon the compulsive part of our brain that needs to binge once in a while. It’s an easy, relatable and not so lame way of saying, “My brain can’t really handle being around other people tonight”.

Will this ever end? Will it be like ‘okay we’ve reached peak Netflix’. That’s what’s happening now with facial hair apparently. We’re at peak beard, ladies and gents. I feel like there will come a day when people start to look down on you again when you say, ‘sorry I’m not coming out tonight, I’m binge watching Sabrina the Teenage witch’. I hope this day comes before we realise we’ve wasted the glory days on Netflix. I feel like I have the cycle of popular culture down to a tee.

Lame/niche/marginal à hipsters get on it ironically à becomes mainstream à get’s overkilled à goes back to being niche/lame/marginal

If there’s anything having anxiety has taught me, it’s that we need to go against our instinct and say yes. Even though closing your laptop and facing the real world can seem like the hardest task in the world for a moment, it is the best thing. Netflix is good for the soul, but as my second favourite phrase goes, everything in moderation. Hopefully the Netflix binge obsession isn’t sticking around long enough to turn us into a generation of reclusive parents and grandparents, who pass these habits onto the next generation. But as my favourite phrase goes, everything in moderation, including moderation…*winky emoji*