The Net(flix) Effect

With all the media hoopla around net neutrality and what a bandwidth hog Netflix apparently is, I can't help but reflect on how the streaming video service has changed my life in the past eight months.

I've had a DVD player for about 10 years and during that time I've amassed a pretty sizable disc library. It's the repeat of a pattern that happened with CDs, starting in the early '90s. Okay, so the same thing happened with vinyl and cassettes in the '80s, as well as with VHS tapes. Let's face it—I'm a media junkie and arguably in need of a 12-step program for my addiction.

So back to DVD's and Netflix. It didn't take too long after I acquired a DVD player to begin feeding my addiction by acquiring a DVD burner for my computer. This, coupled with a subscription to Netflix's original DVD by mail service, led to a “mainline” addiction in which I burned copies of almost every Netflix DVD that hit my mailbox.

I eventually canceled my Netflix subscription when my personal fortunes began took a tumble and I set about cutting non-essentials, including cable TV. For several years, I learned to live with an antenna and let the public library feed my DVD addiction for free. Now, that's what I call putting my tax dollars to work!

Eventually, I began to occasionally indulge in the occasional $5 DVD from the big bins at Wal-Mart and even cheaper $3 discs from Big Lot's, supplemented by the occasional visit to Redbox. My rationalization was that I was spending far less on this habit than I would have on a monthly cable bill.

Over the past couple of years, my personal economy has seen a vast improvement and last summer, I decided to reward myself with a flat screen TV and a Blu-Ray player. While I did pick up a few Blu-Ray discs, I came to the conclusion they didn't live up to the hype. But I became increasingly curious about the little “Netflix” button on the remote.

I resisted pushing it for about five months, but over the holidays, my resolve weakened and my viewing habits instantly changed. I've almost entirely quit watching broadcast TV (no great loss there) and the disc tray on my Blu-Ray player has remained mostly empty. I've even put streaming media boxes on my other two TV sets.

The biggest and most profound effect Netflix has had on me is that it instantly and single-handedly broke me of my DVD addiction. I haven't bought a single disc—nor have I wanted to—since I got Netflix eight months ago. The funny thing is I'm not even tempted by them the way I used to be.

Has Netflix truly broken me of that addiction or is it more like Methadone—a more benign version of the same old addiction? It's hard to tell. I still binge watch movies and TV shows on Netflix much the way I did on DVD—and VHS, for that matter. But I'm not filling my shelves with the physical artifacts of my addiction. Also, I'm spending less to do it. Before Netflix, I was spending much more than $8 a month on DVDs.

So in the end, maybe I'm still a media addict, but so far I've managed to avoid expanding into other similar vices like Hulu Plus.