I love Netflix.  And I am sure the majority of other college students do too. It has been my saving grace to many uneventful evenings. But I also hate Netflix. It might just be the end of me. It is the epitome of a love/hate relationship.

LOVE: Netflix is so easily accessible.
There is really no reason not to have access to a Netflix account. Everyone knows someone who has one. I have been mooching off my older brother’s account for my entire college career now. Last week, a girl in one of my classes admitted to using the account of a friend of a friend whom she had never even met before, and then proceeded to tell my teacher he could have the log-in info too. When all you need is a username and password and then you can have hundreds of different movies and TV shows anywhere in the world with access to Wi-Fi, the incentive is pretty massive and the objective isn’t too hard to obtain.

HATE: Netflix is so easily accessible.
Lets be honest, there aren’t too many places in the world without access to Wi-Fi anymore. This means I can quite literally watch Netflix wherever I want, whenever I want – which is usually more often than not. And since Netflix is accessible on smartphones, this statement has never been truer. You have an endless library of motion pictures and TV hits in your back pocket at all times. Think about it. 

LOVE: Netflix supports binge-watching.
If watching TV was an Olympic sport, I might just be a top contender for the gold. At the beginning of first semester freshman year, I began watching “How I Met Your Mother” and continued to finish all seven seasons that were currently on Netflix long before it got cold outside. And the selection on Netflix is only getting better too. They recently added “Gilmore Girls” in its entirety and all ten years of “Friends” are coming in January 2015. Because how many times can one girl watch “Gossip Girl” anyway?

HATE: Netflix supports binge-watching.
In February 2014, Netflix defined binge-watching as “watching between 2-6 episodes of the same TV show in one sitting.” Netflix not only supports binge-watching, it highly encourages it. When Netflix released the second seasons of its original shows, such as “Orange is the New Black” and “House of Cards,” earlier this year, it released the new episodes all at once. And you know there were the mega fans out there who sat down and watched all 13 episodes in one sitting. Seriously, Netflix just feeds the obsession for all us TV addicts. Don’t the executives at Netflix realize I have this thing called homework and I can’t afford to just watch TV all day?

Honestly, the list could go on and on.  Netflix can be great for social interactions, and also destroy them.  It can be used at school as a course supplement, while simultaneously ruining your GPA at home.  In essence, it is a genuine mixture of both love and hate.