What a better way to relax at the end of a long day than by climbing into bed and binge-watching all of your favorite movies and T.V. shows on Netflix. The Bronx Science student body loves to spend their free time on Netflix, an American entertainment company known for providing streaming media and video-on-demand online. “While some people drink tea to relieve stress, I watch Netflix to relieve stress,” said Joselyn Kim ’19.

Netflix works by having producers of shows sign contracts verifying that the company can stream their shows. At some point, these contracts meet a deadline. Providers are then given the choice to either renew the contract or to end the streaming of their respective shows and movies. As a result, some of the popular content has been removed, upsetting loyal Netflix users.

Favored material, such as ‘How I Met Your Mother,’ ‘Titanic,’ and ‘Twilight’ have been removed from the platform. “It’s frustrating seeing Netflix always remove classic shows and movies that many people enjoy,” Kim ’19 said. Once the content is removed from Netflix, viewers will have to seek their entertainment on other platforms, often a difficult task. “It’s like a piece of my childhood is missing,” said Kim ’19 about Netflix removing her favorite shows growing up, ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ and ‘The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.’

While some viewers are devastated about their favorite content leaving the platform, others are happily enjoying the new shows being streamed. One of the recent new T.V. shows is ‘Stranger Things,’ which came out with its second season in October 2017 and has gotten a lot of views. A fan, Cole Tarrant ’19 said, “I love how ‘Stranger Things’ can be for anyone with its inherent sci-fi appeal and the typical high school drama scattered throughout the show. It gives me and my friends a show that we can all enjoy and relate to.”

However, Netflix does have their reasons for removing these shows. Their contracts met a deadline and instead of renewing the contract, the company has chosen to remove the show to make space for newer ones. While it is devastating to not be able to see your favorite shows on the platform, there are still many good shows that people can enjoy.

“While some people drink tea to relieve stress, I watch Netflix to relieve stress.”

Some students, like Sabrina Chan ’19, understands that it is not really up for choice. “Netflix is on a budget as is any other company and doesn’t have the capacity to keep old content as well as add new ones,” Chan said.

While it would be ideal for Netflix to keep their viewers’ favorite shows on the platform, it would be impossible for them as there is a wide range of subscribers, with an even wider range of preferences. If Netflix kept everything their viewers liked, then they would not really be clearing up much space for new and other in-demand content. It is in their best interest to introduce new material because “people want to see fresh new content on their streaming website which can only be done if old content is removed. If old content that no one watched accumulates on their website, it would be a huge waste of money and space,” Chan said.

In truth, it is upsetting not being able to watch the shows that you love and become attached to, for they are a part of your life to a certain extent. However, new shows to enjoy are constantly being added, granting us viewers new experiences. “I’ve seen one of the new Netflix series ‘Mindhunter,’ and it’s amazing. I would definitely recommend it, if you like psychological stuff mixed with detective stuff.” Tarrant ’19 said.

As long as the new shows are given a chance by Netflix users, the removal of popular shows will not be as upsetting, as the new shows can become favorites as well.