Last week the card I had on file with Netflix expired and when it came time for them to bill me, the charge could not go through. When I got the email saying my account was on hold, I really started to think about whether or not I even want Netflix. I’ve thought about this before, and I always kept coming back to the fact that 7 or 8 bucks or whatever it costs is not a whole lot, and that even if I’d watch on average 2 things per month, I’d be getting my money’s worth.
This time, I decided to think more critically about it before entering my card numbers and reactivating my account, and I think I’m going to leave Netflix. Here are 5 reasons why I think it’s time to quit Netflix.
1. Let’s face it, their selection sucks.
Most times I go in to the Netflix app on my Apple TV, I wind up scrolling around for 20 minutes, adding a few things to my ever-expanding queue that ‘look interesting’ but aren’t something I feel like watching (or ever will, to be honest) and then wind up leaving the app and finding something else.
2. They’re pretty much focused on episodic content
Netflix is heavily geared toward TV series and as a result, their movie collection seems to suffer. If you’re a person who likes to watch entire TV series, I suppose this is great, but I can count the number of TV dramas I’ve watched from beginning to end that have been released in the last decade on exactly 1 finger, and there aren’t a whole lot of comedies I’ve been in love with, either. For those of you who are wondering, the drama is “Breaking Bad.” Ironically, given this article’s viewpoint, I am also a “House of Cards” fan and plan to find a way to watch season 3 when it comes out, which brings us to;
3. Most of the content that’s worth watching can easily be found as a torrent
This is pretty much true. Yeah, some more unknown films or tv documentaries they have will not be easy to locate, but as a fan of nature documentaries, I can attest that you get through everything Netflix has fairly quickly, and they don’t add a ton of stuff all the time. Youtube has a ton of this stuff. You might have to look a bit for good quality, but it’s out there.
4. It Is Creating a Homogenous Movie Viewing Community
This is the big one for me; the one that pushed me over the cliff. I’ve realized that no one is discovering movies anymore. It’s absurd because everyone seems to be watching the same dozen or so films at any given time because those are the films Netflix has added. I’ve been i a few conversations where the other person and I would mention movies we’ve both watched, agreeing they’re good, and then I realize all this shit is just Netflix. Everyone’s just watching Netflix, and that’s all that anyone is seeing, aside from whatever they see in the theater. This can’t be healthy.
5. Every moment spent on Netflix, is a moment not spent somewhere else.
Let’s face it, there is an unlimited supply of media we have instant and easy access to, so leaving one culturally pervasive media delivery corporation’s platform is not going to feel like I’ve sunken into a deep, dark abyss. My life will effectively remain unchanged. I don’t take suggestions from my friends about what to watch on Netflix anyway, so even that will stay the same. It’s really no-brainer. I’m done with Netflix. Netflix sucks.
I’d also like to take the time to notify everyone that I hereby reserve the right to consider myself better than people who have Netflix. They’re a bunch of lemmings, as far as I’m concerned. Cut the cord, folks. This isn’t 20-fucking-14.
