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From “Stranger Things” to “Grey’s Anatomy” and even “Bridgerton,” the endless number of binge-able shows on Netflix makes it almost impossible to stop streaming through their services. This is especially true as a college student; many of us aren’t required to pay for our streaming subscriptions and would rather use our parents’ accounts.
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However, with the recent announcement Netflix made about charging subscribers more money for sharing account passwords, the struggles of being a broke college student have only been amplified. Some families may choose to no longer allow their children in college to use their passwords or spend the extra money required for sharing the account.
The inability to share the account with your family could mean not being able to keep up with the shows you watch to distract your brain for a few hours or to watch the newest seasons of shows you have kept up with for years. These are just a few of the reasons why we have held on so tightly to the passcodes our parents shared with us.
Despite this, Netflix seems to want to put a stop to it, meaning many students will lose these TV-watching habits we have known for so long. This may affect students’ ability to create a boundary between home and school — something Netflix offers many individuals. Living without Netflix might mean going without hourlong episode breaks to bear the day or opportunities to have self-proclaimed dinner shows.
Streaming has become a center point of our culture. Netflix is something many of us grew up with and have continued to use shared accounts for. So what does the future of having a streaming service that won’t let us share our accounts mean for college students?
It means limited access to shows we have streamed for so long. It also threatens a distance in communication concerning what shows mean to other people. More than anything, it means not being able to have the comfort shows that we enjoy so much.
While there are many other streaming services out there similar to Netflix, the number of people who enjoy the platform cannot be ignored. With over 200 million subscribers, Netflix is still an extremely popular streaming service that has led to many conversations between like-minded individuals.
The first question you might be asked during this week of getting to know people is, “What’s your favorite show?” Most students have a favorite program that can be found on a streaming site, and Netflix being one of the most popular ones, you can almost bet some of these shows will be mentioned.
By preventing password sharing, Netflix is taking the ability away from certain students to connect over TV programs on the platform. As a very common source for streaming, the update could make the commonality of having a cheap streaming service with many people’s favorite shows obsolete.
Reach Dominique Lopez at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @caffeinateddee6.
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