It’s no secret that Netflix started cracking down on password sharing a few months ago.
Now, I’ve found myself bending my knee to the streaming service that was once a DVD company. I gave in and got my own Netflix account after years of sharing my sister’s.
I imagine the rest of the streaming services will follow suit. However, I believe this is a crock of shit.
Locking down a service to one home and a few devices absolutely sucks. What if you, yourself, have more than 4 devices in your home that you want to log in on? You’re saying I can’t watch Hubie Halloween on a potential 5th bathroom TV? Absolute bullshit.
And in the case of my sister, she’s a flight attendant. She’s flying all over the country every week and can’t watch Netflix on her iPad because it’s not within the house the account is tied to? Get the fuck outta here.
What angers me the most about the service’s change of heart is that for the entirety of the streaming service’s life, I’ve enjoyed the viewing of each show I’ve binged on someone else’s account.
Mostly my sister’s, but there are countless memories of watching shows on accounts that weren’t mine.
The ultimate binge of The Office and the introduction of Stranger Things on my best friend’s account in college:
Meeting Tommy Shelby and the Peaky Fookin’ Blindahs on a friend of a friend’s couch in college:
Realizing after all these years that Temple of Doom is a prequel on an ex-girlfriend’s account:
Continuing my endless rewatch of Seinfeld on my sister’s account in order to make references like this in real life to my friends:
What sucks the most about this is that Netflix itself used to romanticize password sharing. It was a running joke for the entire human race, it was just part of having a Netflix account: somebody else was using it.
Netflix made it incredibly irritating to be able to watch on someone else’s account. I’m surprised more people just didn’t do a straight up boycott instead of purchasing their own accounts.
The reason I bent the knee was to watch the live action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, produced entirely by Netflix.
The original animated series is regarded as one of the greatest TV shows of all-time and I agree. I’m a huge fan of the original show so I felt obligated to watch this live-action adaptation in order to compare the two and either enjoy or dislike this latest version.
When I sat down to begin the show upon its premiere yesterday, I was met with this screen:
If I had sent an email code or a text code to my sister every single time I wanted to watch something, it would become more than just an annoyance for me, it would be for my whole family. Now that me and my 4 siblings and our parents live across three different states under different roofs, there’s no way this frustration could continue.
So I did it. Are you happy Netflix? I got my own fucking account.
There are worse things. Like I said, I can watch Avatar. I can endlessly watch Seinfeld. Rewatch Peaky Blinders when I want to. Watch in awe when Stranger Things comes to an end.
I’m just worried about all the other streaming services following suit. If Netflix, the former kings of password sharing, finally started cracking down, what are the copycats going to do?
I have the Amazon Prime and HBO Max for my family. My parents have the Disney+ and my brother has the Hulu. God help us all if they come for us.
But it seems our days are numbered.
Just like the world in Avatar, we must await the return of a great force that can bring balance to the chaos. Could it be the return of cable?
We never forgot you coax cable, and now, we may need you once again.
If you need me, I’ll be using a service I’m now paying for. Enjoy it while you can freeloaders, they’re coming for you. You’d best be ready when they do.
~DS
The Danny Diaries 