Should I get rid of my Netflix Account?

24 hours. That's how long it can take me to sit in front of a television screen, watching movies. It didn't matter if my body was aching badly, or if I was shivering from a fever. It wouldn't even make a difference if my stomach was rumbling with hunger, or my head was pounding from exhaustion.

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My mother had told me of how I would hear the familiar wordings and soundtracks of adverts, run from wherever I was playing as a toddler, and come to see an advertisement I had seen time and time again.

She told me of how I would spend time reciting the lines of casts after seeing a movie, replaying their actions to my siblings who were always so eager to watch and laugh.

When I became older, my friends and I would hurry over to get the discs of any Korean and Philippine movie that had just been released.

We didn't miss a single series.

Once, I was seated before our television screen, giggling excitedly at the teenage romance going on between two characters, when my mom walked in.

I greeted her without stopping to ask how her day went. She in turn was too tired to chide me about that so she went straight to the kitchen in search of food.

I jerked in fright when I heard my name being called with so much fury. I hurried over to the kitchen where my mother stood, holding the bowl where I had marinated fresh fish and left it covered for hours without steaming.

“Where is the food you're supposed to have cooked since you returned from school?” At this time, she had pushed the bowl of fresh fish into my arms and was opening and closing the covers of every pot in sight, clanging them shut like cymbals when she saw them empty.

It was then I remembered. I had marinated the fish and while giving it time to get seasoned, sat to continue the Korean movie I was seeing before leaving for school that morning.

I had totally forgotten that I was in the process of preparing a meal. I sputtered and stuttered, trying to explain how I had forgotten that I was hungry, and was trying to rest after a long day from school when I had returned almost 5 hours ago.

My mother had gone up to the video player immediately, took out the CD, and smashed every single one, whether I had seen them or not.

I remember shedding tears that day, one would think it was from remorse, but I strongly believe I was weeping for the movies that I was now banned from seeing.

It got worse when I finally possessed an Android phone.

I spent money getting data to download movies, especially when they came in highly recommended by my friends. I even downloaded movie apps in order to get unlimited access to movies, especially when they had not been released on the internet.

Then when I began to work, I would head over to the cinema with my boyfriend to see all kinds of movies, I wasn't choosy about movies. I saw them all, action, adventure, fantasy, crime, mystery, romance, animations and cartoons.

When I got admission into the Department of Theatre Arts, we were told during orientation that “As an actor, you need to see at least 100 movies before the year runs out, in order for you to be good at acting.”

That was the only thing I took home and took personally. Every time I went back home, and my mother began complaining, I would recite those words back to her.

“It's like asking a diabetic never to stop taking sugar. This is risky!” She would say.

In 2023, I made a resolution to see just one movie every week. I knew it would be impossible to stop seeing movies totally so I cut it down and asked my roommate to serve as my accountability partner.

I was successful until the Christmas and New Year holidays.

In 2024, I have decided to see one movie every month. If I had my way, I would give it up altogether, but seeing how it would affect my career, I would only cut it down to the barest minimum.

I saw how much time I gained to work on myself and my writing career when I reduced the rate at which I was seeing movies last year, I have decided to give myself even more time to grow this year.

I have deleted all movie apps on my phone except Netflix, my roommate still serves as my accountability partner, and I am diverting the attention I gave to seeing movies to writing stories.

I hope that I can go through with my resolution by the end of the year.