Depressed Binge Watcher Contacted by Netflix to ‘Ask If They Were Okay’

Recently on Reddit, a person only known by the username King_Salamander shared a personal story of depression. One summer, when he was between college and jobs, he just stayed on the couch and watched The Office on Netflix for roughly 10 days straight. This prompted Netflix to send him a personal email asking him if he was okay.

Instead of feeling creeped out by it, King_Salamander felt it was nice to know that somebody out there cared about his mental health. However, this revelation over Reddit, (which we feel can be classed under good news), prompted some people to state that they believed this to be creepy, and an invasion of privacy on Netflix’s part.

Those who think that their Netflix habits aren’t being monitored by somebody are probably naive enough believe in the Tooth Fairy too. Of course they’re going to be watching what you’re doing on their service! Everything you watch leaves a trail, why else would you think Netflix suggests other shows that you might like depending on viewing behaviour?

We think it’s a nice little story that Netflix emailed the person to check on him. Of course, more concern would arise if he sat through and watched a whole series about serial killers on something like Crime & Investigation for ten days straight, but still… It’s nice to know that Netflix are checking on you, right?

Here’s the Reddit story in its entirety, which somehow got some people all riled up about privacy issues rather than about supporting people with mental health issues.

Yes, Netflix probably knows all the shows that you are watching, so instead of being offended, why don’t you just cancel your subscription then? However, what would be nice is if Netflix would also step in and ask if “you’re okay” after spending countless hours trying to find something suitable to watch, as is normally the case for many people who seemingly just get stuck and shuffle through the menu’s for hours and hours. Wouldn’t that also be nice?

We think it would be great if Netflix ultimately stepped in and just chose the f*cking show or movie for you instead, as it can be difficult at times to find what to watch, given our personal experience using the streaming service, but you know, that’s just our personal experience talking here.

Anyway, this isn’t the first time Netflix have used customer data to ask if somebody was feeling okay. Recently, they released some viewer data in a post on Twitter, which caused people to react with suspicion and some outrage, as seen by the following tweets and reactions. Let’s take a look!

We’re not familiar with the film ‘A Christmas Prince’, or the relationship innuendo used within the Tweet, but some people were not too pleased about how viewer data was used by Netflix to create this post.

Well of course Netflix have access to all viewer data! It’s their service. How else would they know what shows are doing well and what’s popular over the streaming interface? Sometimes the intelligence of Netflix users can be highly questionable.

Perhaps he should be more concerned about other Big Brother type things that are watching him, instead of what Netflix does to recommend you something to watch.

Is this “f*cking creepy”, or is it just plain obvious to a person with half a brain that all of the streaming service’s viewing data is stored, collected and put into daily, weekly, monthly, and annual analysis reports?

Another person here becomes intertwined in some Twitter beef with the streaming service, over fickle things like what people watch.

Oh dear. “Wah, you’re not my mom, Netflix!”, oh boo hoo! Clearly a sensitive topic for some people, which is unsurprising in these times of snowflakes and online streaming services.

Netflix keeps it cool and continues to monitor what everybody is watching regardless, which shouldn’t come as any surprise to anyone at all.

Finally, a person with a bit more common sense named Blake thinks what happened was pretty amazing. They emailed King_Salamander, asking if he is currently okay after the whole “watching ten days of The Office during that one summer” fiasco.

Speaking about Netflix, what’s the hottest new show or movie to watch at the moment? Please tell us any of your recommendations in the comments section down below, unless of course, you think it would be an invasion of your privacy.

 

Brainstain, over and out!

<Story by The Narrator>

Featured Photo Credit: Lifehacker Australia