Here’s why I stopped watching Netflix

Toudoum. If instead of just reading the previous word you heard it in your head then yeah, just like me, Netflix has conquered your life. Earlier this year, I decided to cancel my subscription. Crazy, right? Well... here’s why.

How Streaming became the center of our lives

Netflix, Apple TV, YouTube, Hulu, HBO and that’s only to quote the main ones... In the last 10 years, these companies have been on their path to one goal: to conquer our attention. With a catalog of movies and shows that couldn’t be watched in a lifetime, it’s easy to fall into the "Netflix and Chill" lifestyle: get home after school or work, change into your PJ's, and start binge-watching the latest show until way past midnight.

I had embraced the Netflix lifestyle head first.

There is nothing wrong with that. I was there some months ago, maybe you still are by choice and that's totally normal. Yet, day after day, I kept saying that "I didn't have time". I didn't have enough time to make concrete progress on my goals or sometimes to hang out with friends. Netflix, Social Medias had conquered all of my attention and I had no mastery whatsoever over my time.

Put your money where your mouth is

So, around March 2019, I made the conscious choice to cancel my Netflix subscription. Don’t get me wrong though, I still absolutely love movies and I still watch many of them but this one decision meant that, for once, I would pay myself first. I would stop caring about whether I watched the last show that everyone is talking about but rather put my goals at the top of my priorities.

It’s not that much about money (although on a student budget the Monthly 9.99$ does matter), but rather because I want to put my money where my mouth is. If, in a month I can only allocate my money and attention to a few things, then I would like to choose those that contribute to my long term goals.

I value learning and experiments, so I replaced my Netflix subscription with an Audible one. I gave myself 'carte blanche' to buy any book I fancied on my Kindle and I started saving money to go out more often and plan some trips abroad.

Instead of waiting on society to hand it out to me, decided to put myself first and I chose to build my own lifestyle.

💡 More ressources on productivity & lifestyle

If you enjoyed this post, here are some ressources that inspired me and that you might like as well...

• [Video] : Matt d'Avella • The Loneliness Epidemic
• [Article] : Ali Abdaal • My Rule for Watching TV
• [Podcast] : College Info Geek • Are we the loneliest generation ?

Now, what about you, will you put yourself first?