It took me three days to watch two seasons of New Girl.
Nine days after watching the first episode of New Girl, I am on season 4 episode 19. Part of me thinks that I have a serious problem. Do I not have a life? Am I addicted to my laptop? Am I desperately in love with Nick Miller?
One to three of those things might be true. However, I do not think I have a serious problem.
I have always loved to read, and I honestly wish that people loved reading as much as they love watching television shows. I wish people had book reading marathons the way they have The Office marathons. But books and TV shows share an essential characteristic: They tell stories.
Storytelling has been a part of humanity for thousands of years, ever since people painted pictures on cave walls. Then people told their children stories and so on, then scribes worked meticulously to copy stories. Then Gutenberg created the printing press and sharing stories became even easier.
Today, stories are shared through social media, blogs... and Netflix. Why do people always press the "yes" button when Netflix asks if they are still watching? Possibly to avoid writing a paper or studying for a test. Possibly because that takes less effort than almost anything else. But mostly because they want to know what happens next in the show. They want to know the next part of the story.
Writers work on TV scripts just like authors write books. In the past, parents passed down legends to their children. Today's version of that: I watched Friends (multiple times) on Netflix because my parents always told me how much they loved it.
A lot of people debate whether we should embrace the technology era or if we're losing something because of it. Both are probably true, but what is definitely true: The technology is here to stay, and our culture is now based around it. And of course, this includes the culture of storytelling.
So to all of the people who criticize millennials for (among many other things) spending so much time on Netflix, recognize their appreciation for stories. Recognize that they, like every other human being, have a desire for stories. If Netflix is where they go for those stories, so be it.
But a note to millennials... click "no" every once in a while and read a book. But that's a different article.
