Binge-watching
According to Sydneyeve Matrix's essay "The Netflix Effect: Teens, Binge Watching, and On-Demand Digital Media Trends", the marathon watching that Netflix causes when they release all episodes of a season at one time dismantles social TV viewing practices.
As a larger share of the TV audience consumes more TV shows via Netflix and other OTT (over-the-top) services, some critics argue that such consumption practices interfere with the cultural unification effects (or “water cooler talk”) that bond people through shared, mass-mediated experiences.
-Sydneyeve Matrix, "The Netflix Effect: Teens, Binge Watching, and On-Demand Media Trends"
Before Netflix, there was a time when people would discuss each episode one at a time. The day after a new episode of ER aired, everyone at school or work would be chatting about their thoughts, feelings, and predictions of the storyline. Since binge-watching has become so popular now, it is difficult to be at the same point of the season as someone else. This makes discussing the show nearly impossible because of the risk of spoilers.
Less people talking to each other about the show leads to more of an isolated experience.
In this video, Ellen Degeneres jokes about how binge-watching can lead to not seeing your family for three months. Although this is an over exaggeration for comedic purposes, it is a real problem how Netflix can be so isolating.
A mild inconvenience for binge-watchers would be the "are you still watching?" feature that Netflix has maliciously developed. This feature pauses the film or show every few hours just in case the person watching has fallen asleep. Now we all know that the creators of Netflix have included this feature just to help us out. Nobody wants to accidentally sleep through a couple episodes and wake up confused about what is happening. However, viewers can't help but feel as if Netflix is judging them.
It is common to find people using Netflix as an aid to procrastination. Whether it be someone who should be getting their research assignment done, someone who needs to be getting ready for work, or someone who just needs to walk their dog, Netflix can be a temporary escape from daily responsibilities. This can cause the feeling of guilty to settle in while watching. There is enough pressure from your subconscious asking, "Should you really be watching Netflix right now?" let alone your own screen asking you, "Are you still watching?" This is why some can feel as if Netflix is judging them for watching 6 hours of The Walking Dead. "Are you still watching?" comes off as "Are you really still watching?" Stop being so condescending, Netflix. Let us procrastinate in peace.
