The Binge Factor

Forty-one percent of students watching Netflix every day

Britni Tatum & Kelsey Staber, Journalism I Staffer & Replay Editor

You can’t just watch one. As millions of viewers have learned, it’s pretty easy to get addicted to Netflix.

“I believe that some teens watch Netflix too much,” freshman Colleen Gallagher said. “Netflix has so many options and genres to choose from that teens get caught up in that. I believe that people need to focus on other things in life.”

The site reports as of April 2016, viewers spend 10 billion hours per month watching Netflix. Gallagher, whose favorite Netflix shows are Grey’s Anatomy, That 70’s Show, Malcolm in the Middle and How to Get Away with Murder, said she doesn’t it consume her time.

“I watch Netflix on the weekends or when I am bored, but I don’t watch it for five hours straight,” Gallagher said.

According to expandedramblings.com, 27.9 percent of 2015 high school graduates watch Netflix multiple times a day. They also note 79 percent of American millennials use Netflix.

“Whenever I do my homework I might watch an episode or two to take a break,” freshman Madi Bushong said.

A yearbook survey of 252 students by the Replay staff in September found that 41 percent of students watch Netflix every day. Junior Sara McCarley said it took her about 20 hours to watch Orange is the New Black.

“I watched it so much because I really liked it,” McCarley said. “I finished all of the seasons in about a week.”

The online site, Inquisiter, stated that the most watched genre on Netflix is drama. People watch House Of Cards, Bloodline and Breaking Bad the most. Junior Melanie Ramos was one of those people who binge-watched the AMC show Breaking Bad through Netflix.

“I wasn’t busy for a weekend,” Ramos said. “Plus, it was rated five stars on Netflix, so why not?”

Smith’s favorite type of shows are crime scene and investigation ones.

“I want to be a crime scene investigator when I grow up. My life without Netflix would be so boring,” Smith said. “I would have nothing to do or watch.”

Netflix also has become a fix for late-night TV watching. Freshman Kent Ninomiya checked out the ABC show Lost in the middle of the night and spent a week catching up on the series.

“When you wake up at 3 a.m., you don’t have many options for entertainment,” Ninomiya said.

According to Inquisiter, more people watch TV shows on Netflix than movies. Bushong likes movies and TV shows but she prefers TV shows better. She watches four to five days a week for about 45-90 minutes. She has watched all of the Friends episodes and there are a total of 10 seasons with 235 episodes.

“My favorite thing about Netflix is that I can watch my favorite shows and movies whenever I want,” Bushong said.