Balancing school and Netflix

I'm sure that this is no news to anyone reading, that netflix is a website which takes hours and hours from someone's day and is everyone's guilty pleasure. A binge-worthy TV show or movies that are so bad they're good are sure-fire ways for someone, especially a teenager, to get sucked into wasting their time.

Today, I will give you my top tips for balancing your school life and your netflix life (or any other online service; youtube, instagram, snapchat).

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1. Schedule

Making a schedule allows you to carefully plan out your day and the amount of school work you have for said day. I won't go into to much detail about this because of an upcoming post but it is important to have a schedule while making sure you're not limiting yourself too much, unless of course you absolutely have to.

2. Prioritize

Subsequently, having your priorities straight when it comes to school vs. netflix is essential. You have to make sure that if you're going to watch netflix that evening that you don't do it before you've done your work (trust me. I'm guilty of doing this) and that you make sure to use your schedule wisely.

3. Screen time

Screen time is something slightly more extreme. If you don't know putting up limits on websites is something that's been around for a while; the Self-Control app is an example. Screen time on the iPhone is a similar thing which allows you to place a password, have parental control, have time limits on apps (which conveniently for binge-watchers can be skipped) and down time which blocks most of your apps (essentials such as phone and message remain) until whatever time you choose. We may write a whole post on useful websites so stay tuned...

4. Reward system

My final piece of advice has proven to be useful throughout the years. In essence, a reward system is getting a reward (in this case an episode) for every 1 1/2 - 2 hours of work you do. Some ways you can arrange this is when making your schedule. For example, put aside the length of an episode between study or work periods. Once you've finished your episode use your strong will to set Netflix to the side and carry on. Of course this method won't work for everyone because of lingering ideas or theories, or a cliffhanger that left questions, etc. that you may have regarding the episode or because of other reasons but it is a good last case can't-live-without-Netflix arrangement.

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Of course, it's important to know that sometimes you have to sacrifice 1 day or maybe even 1 week of Netflix in order to excel in your academic achievements, which is okay. Reading up on different ways to organize your schedule or even by reading our post about it may further help this distraction that many teenagers fall for.

Thank you for reading and we hope you explore our page for similar posts.

PSA:

There's a short but interesting article on the guardian about Netflix and students here.

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Written by: Elle