Paige Liston | Opinion Columnist
“Netflix and chill.”
We have all been hearing this term quite often across various social media accounts, but for those of you who are unaware of the full context of the phrase, allow me to fill you in.
If someone invites you over for “Netflix and chill,” you might be in store for a night of movie-watching on Netflix and relaxing, but the phrase has recently acquired an entirely new meaning.
This simple term has taken on sexual innuendos that basically mean you most likely will not be watching Netflix when you agree to come over for a night of “Netflix and chill.”
Although this is not always the case, the Internet has turned this phrase into a cultural phenomenon, generating feedback from millions of people. In fact, the first annual “Netflix and chill” festival will be taking place on Sept. 26 in Philadelphia, and I cannot believe I actually just wrote those words.
According to the event’s Facebook page, more than 21 thousand people are attending the festival promoting a warped date culture: thousands of random people coming together to essentially hook up.
I find it almost comical how young people today might consider being invited to “Netflix and chill” as a romantic gesture, or perhaps the first step in creating a meaningful relationship, when this is really not the case.
I often think about our parent’s generation and how they did not have any of the technology we have now. Today, many relationships form online or are developed through constant texting and direct messages.
When our parents or grandparents were dating, they did not obsess over who liked their Instagram pictures. They did not have Twitter so that various strangers could “slide” into their direct messages. They did not have cell phones to constantly check and wonder why someone was taking more than 30 minutes to respond to one message.
Imagine a time in which people actually had to call one another on the phone to have a meaningful conversation, a time when people arranged face-to-face dates in order to get to know one another past a superficial profile.
The technology today promotes an entirely different dating culture than that of older generations. As a result, we now have things such as “Netflix and chill” shared, retweeted and hash-tagged. Although funny memes and vines can make light of this, “Netflix and chill” describes the superficial mindset of many people today, and causes young people to think that this is an acceptable way to start a relationship.
In reality, it is not. Perhaps we should take a page from that of an older generation’s dating book and respect people past a strictly physical standpoint.
