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I cancelled my Netflix account this morning. I have had one for the past two and a half years. One of my former roommates allowed a few friends to create profiles on her Netflix account so that we could watch for free. I have enjoyed the luxury fully. But today I thought I should end it.
Why?
Well, I have been upset recently that I do not read as much or as well since I got to American college. I thought it might be the fact that now I am required to read books for school, but lately I have begun questioning other potential factors. I think that having a place where I can watch unlimited television and films is dangerous and severely compromises my drive to read and my ability to concentrate.
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It has only been one day, but I think I can already see the difference. When I had NEtflix it was always a temptation to turn on episodes of How I Met Your Mother as a reward for a long day and a wind-down technique. I don't think that that is wrong at all, but once you have it going it is so hard to wrench yourself out of television watching mode and get back into reading mode. I was also talking with a friend and we thought that the mere knowledge that Netflix is an option can be distracting. Whatever you find yourself doing you can always think in the back of your mind, "I could be watching Netflix instead of doing this..."
I think that without Netflix watching Television and films will not be impossible, but I will have to be a lot more intentional and therefore driven to do so. I still have a disc drive from which I can play DVDs and my family often buys films on our iTunes account.
My hope from this experiment is that I will return to being someone who really finds pleasure from reading. I want to be less plugged into a screen and more attuned to the things going on around me.
In conclusion, if you have Netflix I do not judge you. I love Netflix. It has a wealth of fun and inspiring things available. But I did find that it was hard for me to be a good student or artist when I had access to it.
