The Best (and Worst) Thing to Happen During My College Career

As well as being a lover of books, I am an avid lover of good television shows. I'm just going to throw that out there now. But I never really got to watch any TV my freshman year at college. If I did it would be an episode of Glee (thank God that stopped after first semester) or shows like Weird Addictions or Call of the Wildman. This was partly due to the fact that my roommate and I were generally not watching TV while working on homework, or hanging out with friends. TV was something we turned on right before we turned the lights off to wind down from the day.

I still don't watch a lot of TV now that I have an apartment, and a TV to myself. The only show I follow religiously is Parks & Recreation and if you don't watch that show, then you are wrong. The irony of the whole situation is that, while I don't watch a lot of TV, I watch a gigantic ton of TV shows.

The answer to the conundrum: Netflix.

One of my roommates hooked me up with his subscription when I was trying to watch the 90s version of X-Men on Youtube and it wasn't working out. After that, it all went down hill. I became hooked to the site, and began to log a solid five to six hours in front of the computer screen watching cartoons, British sci-fi shows (five guesses on what show I'm talking about) and comedy shows like Parks & Rec and 30 Rock.

I'm still a little tender over the series finale.
Photo courtesy of Netflix via Google Images

This all seemed great! Finally, I had a database where I could find the shows I wanted to all in one place. I started compiling a list of shows that I wanted to see. A list, might I add, that is still in existence today, while I am writing this post. This show list coupled with my addiction to Netflix began to run my life, and dictated how much time I spent in front of the computer. There was even one day that I stayed in my room the entire day, marathoning the entire second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender (woops don't tell my professors. I still got an A in the class I missed, it was one time). My friends knew that if I was laughing at something on my computer I was generally watching a show on Netflix. It was bad.

My Netflix addiction took a peak during the summer. While I was living in Columbia working towards getting residency in Missouri, I could spend close to 7 or 8 hours straight of watching Battlestar Galactica, Charmed, and any other tv show that I could stream. After getting off work I would walk in to my apartment and go straight to my laptop. Before I knew it, the day would be gone and I would have gotten through half a season of Torchwood.

To this day I have been unable to stop my continual use of Netflix. But I have embraced it, and am no longer ashamed of how often I use it. Netflix has become a way for me to relax after a long day of class, studying and writing. It provides an outlet for me to unwind during the week while still being entertained and without having to deal with pesky commercials and advertisements. The most important thing is that I have found a way to balance my Netflix use and ensure that I don't watch anything before my work is done. And that's what college is all about, finding the balance between school, work and life.

Netflix has become part of my life. I use the streaming service everyday, and I have practically gotten rid of conventional television in my life. This has become true for many people in my generation, I believe. Especially among the group of people I spend most of my time with, the TV doesn't play a major role in our everyday life. We use the television for video games, and using consoles to get Netflix on the TV so that we don't have to watch movies or shows on our laptops all the time.

I know that I am a Netflix junky, but I also know that I am not alone with this particular vice.