People have gained the habit of looking at the screen and watching something ever since television was invented. This habit has recently taken a different path when people started to watch TV shows and movies online. People have the opportunity to watch the series or films they want anywhere and anytime. The most famous platform all around the world for online movies or series is Netflix, which is used by many people today and especially very popular among young individuals. For example, university students are increasingly using Netflix. Some argue that using Netflix is beneficial for university students, while others claim that it is very harmful for them. I personally believe that Netflix is detrimental to university students because of several reasons.
First of all, Netflix has bad effects on university students. Movies and series have lots of violence, sexual and drug scenes nowadays. These students see the scenes as if they are real and they tend to apply them to their own lives. For instance, ”13 Reasons Why”, which is one of the Netflix’s youth series, is accused of encouraging young people to commit suicide. Since its publication in April 2017, the increase in suicide rates has been around 28.9%. What stands out in an article in the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is that young people need to be more sensitive to the display of negative content, such as suicide because they are vulnerable to what they see in the media.
Secondly, with the accessibility of television programs provided by popular streaming platforms like Netflix, consumers can watch episodes or seasons of their favorite programs in just one sitting. This new practice of watching TV has been referred to as ” binge-watching ” and it is defined by Netflix as watching two episodes of the same show in one sitting. Because nearly all Netflix visitors are university students, a large part of binge-watchers consists of these students. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine reported that binge-watching could lead to sleep deprivation. Raj Dasgupta, a psychiatrist, says: ”When you are sleep-deprived, nothing good happens.” It really does not cause good things because sleep deprivation causes many health problems, such as anxiety, stress and depression which are seen in many university students today.
Last but not least, several studies show that screen time can be linked to developmental and communication delays in university students. However, excessive screen viewing can affect communication with parents, peers, teachers, teens. For example, TV viewing can influence the way that teens view themselves and others and this leads to problems in their social life.
To summarize, various researchers have shown that Netflix is harmful for university students in many ways such as mental and physical health as well as social life. Considering all the facts, although it is not yet proven, we can infer that Netflix has a diminishing impact on course success. I think that students should be informed and educated to decrease the damage of Netflix,