Netflix or No-flix?

In a culture where binge-watching is the norm, where “Netflix” has become a verb, and a lack of knowledge about “Game of Thrones” is seen as a sin, I momentarily questioned my general abstinence from the holy grail that is TV shows. But not for long.

Watching a romantic movie or enjoying the ups and downs of a TV character’s life can be fun, but I would choose sitting down to a conversation with friends I actually know many times over.

Growing up in my household in Cohasset, Massachusetts, TV was a special privilege reserved solely for an hour of Saturday morning cartoons or family movie night once or twice a week. The concept of “binge-watching” was certainly not around, and TV during the daytime was strictly forbidden. In high school I greatly resented my parents decision concerning TV viewing, as I fell short of classmates in pop-culture references and the popular pastime that is movie quoting.

As I have gotten older, however, I have largely kept the stance that they implanted in me.

To preface this, I do enjoy movies once in a while, have watched episodes of various TV series, and am not so uncultured as to declare TV an entirely bad thing. I just don’t quite see the hype that our culture assigns to it.

The following are reasons I don’t watch TV.

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TV is addicting, and once you start it’s hard to stop.
Time is a precious commodity and an hour of relaxation with a good show can easily turn into six. When a person’s day consists of work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., dinner, and then four hours of television, it is easy to go through a week without ever sitting down and just being present. Thinking, writing, reading, exercising, and all of the other things we may want to do in our free time get eaten up by the addicting nature of TV. If you have the willpower to actually hit stop instead of letting Netflix auto-play the next episode, then all the power to you — it’s just that most people don’t. 

TV is isolating, and it’s easy to shut people out.
If friends want to hang out and the suggested activity is watching TV, I usually take a pass. I can’t say how many times I have sat down to a group movie, where everyone is on their phones, glancing once or twice at the screen, completely disengaged from any sort of human connection. We are all together in one setting and not saying one word to each other, and most of the time not even focusing on the TV. 

People I know are better company than people I don’t.
Watching a romantic movie or enjoying the ups and downs of a TV character’s life can be fun, but I would choose sitting down to a conversation with friends I actually know many times over. I frequently hear people talking about the problems that fictional characters on TV have, discussing how they will act or what might happen next. Why don’t we focus on real people in society, such as politicians, world leaders, and others whose equally interesting life sagas have actual effects on our day-to-day lives?

Even when we know TV isn’t reality, it affects us.
We all know that the serendipitous encounters with potential soulmates and wild adventures we see pictured on TV are not reality. But that doesn’t stop them from affecting us. We are impressionable people and watching unrealistic situations affects the way that we perceive reality.

As television series continue to grow in popularity over movies, HBO releases new programs, and Netflix keeps using auto-play, it is apparent that we are in a culture where television is highly celebrated. Although traditional TV consumption is down among millennials, that doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t reaching beyond cable networks. The Nielsen ratings report a decrease from 21.7 million young adults watching traditional TV in 2011 to 17.8 million watching in 2015.

Many of us are watching and many of us aren’t — but regardless, it is important to realize how much it is a part of our society, and decide how and if we want to consume it.