Netflix? More like Notflix!

Time has started to melt into nothingness as we finish our spring semester. You log off from your online class, miss talking with people, and distance yourself from the news because you don’t want to hear about the many things going wrong because of COVID-19.

In order to escape the boredom and mundanity of lockdown, you turn to your screen.

The trademark red logo flashes on the screen, the cascading glow cascading into your room. The biting anxiousness of living with COVID-19 fades away as you prepare to indulge in the ritual of binge-watching.

A notification pops up on the monitor, and it reads, “Start your own Netflix for free today. If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.”

Below the message, there is a prompt to “Join for 30 days.” The excitement leaves you. You are too tired to get overtly angry, yet the disappointment leaves you feeling sad and bitter. There is only the feeling of emptiness.

In a move that has generated quite a stink, Netflix has started to crack down on those who have cheated the system of monthly subscriptions by using the same account that someone else is paying for in a different household.

Now, suppose you have American Netflix or at least have changed your area on your Netflix account to an American one somehow, and you have a better and wider selection of television shows and movies to pick from.

In this case, if your friend is allowing you to use their Netflix account, your attachment to the service will be all the more precious.

Unfortunately, this party-pooping policy that’s about to be passed will unlikely deter those who share passwords. Naturally, people will just drift past this barrier, or find some kind of loophole through which they can bypass the rules set forth.

People may even opt for a better streaming service as opposed to Netflix. For those with a taste for fear, Shudder is one such platform, offered at $6 a month. Hulu offers a good selection of current TV shows, also at $6 a month.

For those who like anime, Funimation offers $8 a month for a huge selection of titles. On the free side, there’s Crackle, which may have commercials, but it is free and allows you to watch your favourite shows at will.

Another lesser-known website that could be of use is TinyZone. This one has lots of pop-ups, but a huge variety of current movies and TV shows, as well as old films from the 40s and so on.

Tubi is another free option, with only one commercial in between each movie. Still, it offers lots of foreign films that are unavailable for viewing in the west by conventional platforms.

In short, keep your options open. Netflix may be a top pick for many people, but sometimes you just have to brave through a bunch of pop-ups to get a free viewing experience.