It’s 7:58pm. You are writing away furiously as you struggle to finish your concluding thoughts on your History homework. You hear a loud tick, 7:59pm. As your mom calls out to you “Ralph…It’s time!” you put down your pencil and sprint to the door, open it, run across the hall, jump down the stairs, trip, get back up, walk to the living room, choose the seat that will determine your comfort for the next hour, compete with siblings over who sits where, finally sit…tick, 8:00pm. Your mom turns the knob on the TV and just like that, The Brady Bunch begins.

Those were the good old days when a family would all sit together on the same sofa and watch the same TV show at the same time. There were not many options those days. It was a country-wide type of schedule, either Peter Jennings on the news or The Brady Bunch. Over the course of decades, live TV would become somewhat obsolete. Despite sport matches, the Oscars, the VMA’s, and others like them, TV is recorded to watch later. I record over 15 series on my TV so I can watch them all, yet I never end up watching them with my family. TV is filled with ads, which is one of the main reasons most of us record the shows, but why take away that family time? Whenever I have free time, I shuffle up to my room, turn on my computer, go to Netflix or Hulu and watch my favorite shows. No one around me, just my headphones and snuggie for comfort.  But why don’t I, or really most teens, wait for my family’s company?

I can lie and say I just need personal time every once in a while, but really I’m just enthralled by the TV shows. As I am watching season 2 episode 11 of Melissa and Joey, and Joey is about to get married, the episode just ends. I am then given a choice. This choice is very important because it could very well define my level of sanity for the next couple of days. I am given 10 seconds to choose whether or not to watch the next episode. As I contemplate the pros and cons of my possible decisions, the countdown comes to 0…the next episode begins automatically. I always end up thinking “Well it started, so I might as well finish it”.

This new form of TV: recording shows and on demand TV is quite fascinating. It is both what I look forward to every night, as well as it is the bane of my existence. I do, however, believe that a correction needs to be made in my life, as well as most that share my problem. I would suggest an AA type meeting for Netflix addicts, Netflix Anonymous, but I don’t know how effective that would be. We would probably start watching Netflix together, as a new family. Yes, that seems to make it feel less antisocial. In fact, that’s exactly what I need, more Netflix. Forget a 12 step program, I need 12 more movies in my queue. We can create our own unified nation, a brethren united for a common goal: to watch Netflix. We can purchase a patch of land and discover the many choices that Netflix offers us. As one, we will thrive in the world of online streaming. This way, we do not need a substitute for our anti-social tendencies; there will be no judgment, no hate, simply joy.