“I don’t like it…I wish I could stop, but I can’t. It takes over my life. I push my friends away; I don’t get school work done, and my grades slip.” What has freshman Marc Vento so obsessed that he’s letting his school work slide? Like many other TV crazed teenagers and adults, Vento has succumbed to the joys of binge-watching.

Binge-watching is when you watch multiple episodes of the same show, in the same day (or maybe into the next day, or all weekend), one after another? One outlet for this activity is Netflix.  Hulu and Amazon Prime are others. With modern technology and viewing services, it’s easy to watch nonstop.

Netflix makes binge-watching easy, because it automatically starts the next episode after you finish the previous one. You never have to stop. You can watch and re-watch your favorite shows and movies whenever you want.

You start feeling like you know the characters, and root for their happiness because you are around them so much. Junior Matt Burbine says, “it’s unhealthy,” and we agree. But, we can’t seem to stop. Netflix is more entertaining than most things. In all honesty it is because of Netflix that Mr. Dorman (Green Wave Gazette Adviser) received this article two weeks late. I had to re-watch the first five seasons of Glee!

But, there are many good reasons to watch Netflix (and their competitors). You can watch old shows that are no longer on TV, or watch a marathon of your favorite shows instead of only watching an hour a week. The easy access to old shows is a great perk. When your favorite character dies unexpectedly or tragically, watching old episodes makes it feel like he never left. Also, when an episode ends on a cliff hanger, you don’t have to wait more than a few seconds to see what comes next. And, with Netflix’s easy access you can re-watch your favorite seasons whenever you want.

Netflix also has educational benefits. It has a lot of documentaries that you can use as research for a school project. These can also be used to feed a curious mind. You can learn easily without a cause if that is what you want to do. Some of the documentaries can be used as entertainment or for a trip down memory lane. Many artists have documentaries on the making of their tours, which are great to watch if you were there, or wish you were. I highly recommend the three part “Taylor Swift – a Journey to Fearless.”

Although Netflix has its benefits, binge-watching is not the best thing you can spend your time doing. Watching that much TV can make you too busy for a friend or homework. Netflix is great in small doses, but too much can be an unhealthy habit that turns you into a boring person.