The latest and greatest pop culture concept of the 21^st century has arguably become the phenomenon of watching an entire TV series on Netflix in just one sitting. Research has repeatedly shown that this habit is, in fact, an addicting one. But it is understandable when viewers have access to every single season of millions of shows all at once. No longer do they have to wait until every Tuesday night at 8 p.m. to find out a plot twist, because now, they can get through years’ worth of episodes in weeks, only losing a few precious hours of sleep and yet working around their own personal schedule and lifestyle. Rather than families planning their lives around a regularly programmed show, they are free to view whenever and however much they want, thanks to Netflix. This impulsive habit of binge watching is just what the busy lives of the modern family need. The leisure life of the 21^st century family is now made more economically and time efficient with the help of this program. By allowing viewers to watch what they want, when they want, Netflix has become a savior to families’ sanity while they're balancing the rest of their busy lives.

In 1997, Netflix was co-founded by Reed Hastings and fellow software executive Marc Randolph to offer online movie rentals for the low price of 7.99 (Netflix, 1). Unlimited movie access came to family’s front door for the first time, and millions of families agreed that the price was right. Now, over 50 million people own Netflix (there are Netflix users in over 50 different countries) and it's a highly successful stock. The service is now available on television, phone, gaming systems, and computers. Netflix describes itself as “The world’s leading Internet television network, with over two billion hours of TV shows and movies per month, including original series. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause, and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments” (Netflix, 1).

As a start, there is a $77 dollar price difference between a family’s average cable or satellite bill and owning Netflix. Families all around are making the switch to get more bang for their buck with Netflix because the price is right. Analysts at Experian Marketing Services explain how customers with high-speed internet access who have either never subscribed to cable or stopped subscribing to cable has increased by 44 percent, from 5.1 million households to 7.6 million, in a mere three years (RT-USA, 1). Families do not have to do any hard math to figure out what the better deal is, because it's Netflix, clearly. Just in 2013, 6.5 percent of American households ended their reliance on cable or satellite services in favor of a streaming-only watching experience. The jump is more than the 4.5 percent of households who did the same in 2010 (RT-USA, 1). “We had looked at cord-cutting as a trend in years past, but we hadn’t really seen significant movement in the space because it was more a small group of people who were actually cutting the cord. It’s become something people are actually doing from something that was just being talked about in New York Times trend pieces,” John Fetto, a senior marketing manager at Experian Marketing services explained (RT-USA, 1). If viewers get almost all of the shows on cable, plus movies, why not make the switch to cut the bill in more than half? The first month is even free.

Along with the tight budget of the modern family, they also have a tight schedule. Who has time to sit and watch a regularly scheduled program every single Tuesday night at 7/6 central on NBC? That will not fit into most families' schedules ever again these days. Families are constantly on the go, and the crazy, packed lifestyle of the 21^st century has not only changed the way we interact with people, but also the way we watch television. Netflix came at the perfect time to fit into the crammed lives of families today. Now people can come home from a horrid day at work, kick off their shoes, and catch up on however many episodes of "Mad Men" they can pack in before 2 a.m.

According to Netflix, 61 percent of people said that they regularly binge watch TV. And when we do binge, they say that we watch an average of two to six episodes in a sitting (1). Newsweek explains that watching television causes us to switch from the left hemisphere of the brain, which is more logical, to the right, which is more emotional. This releases endorphins, which cause us to relax. When we turn off the television, we switch back to the left hemisphere, and the endorphins go away. All of the sudden, the relaxation disappears (1). But if viewers keep watching, that lovely relaxation won’t leave. And that might just be what jam-packed lives need, a little relaxation with the thrilling scenes in shows like "The Walking Dead" or "Game of Thrones."

Not only does the service screen movies and TV shows, but they also stream their very own Netflix movies and drama series. The movies and shows Netflix has created have been nominated for over 40 acclaimed awards and have won 10 from the Emmys and the Academy Awards (Netflix, 1). When Netflix releases one of their own shows, they're killing everyone’s social lives one episode of "House of Cards" at a time. They release the entire season all at once, so viewers are reeled in to watch just one more episode, just one more episode, and just one more episode. This is called binge watching.

This “binging phenomenon” has become such a pop culture reference that Webster put it in their newest edition of their dictionary, defining it as “to watch (multiple videos, episodes of a TV show, etc.) in one sitting or over a short period of time.” Who would have thought the addictive drug of our generation would be such amazing television shows about drugs, like "Orange is the New Black" and "Breaking Bad?" Finishing seven episodes of "Lost" in one sitting cannot be healthy for anyone. The "Journal of American Heart Association" would have to agree, as they concluded that that adults who watch TV for three or more hours a day may double their risk of early death compared to viewers who watch less TV (2). Though watching TV could decrease our health in various ways, the amount of activity the average 21^st century family does balances out the previous century's television time. In the past, families were not running to work, school, clubs, sports, and more as often. The days of gathering around the television set with the entire family are long over; no one has time for that anymore. If a family binge watches only once a week for three hours, that is equal to the old family that would watch a 30 minute show every day of the week. And in the end, watching TV is leisure time; if someone works hard, they are definitely allowed some relaxing “me” time with the Netflix screen.

In this day and age, families are all about go, go, going. It is fitting that TV fits the busy schedule and small budget so they can hit the “Yes, we are still watching, next episode,” button as much as they can manage before passing out from exhaustion. The wonderful network of Netflix allows families to constantly be on the go while also managing a relaxing down time as needed. It is significant that TV has changed just like the 21^st century lifestyle so that shows and movies can still be carved into schedules. Making the switch to Netflix is both money and time efficient for everyone’s lives, and viewers will only slightly regret staying up into 3 a.m. Watching TV pays off.