The 2016 cliche image of a teenager is one who goes home, crashes on their bed, and binge watches their favorite TV show on Netflix without taking a break in between episodes. The expansion and development of Netflix as an instant streaming service has made watching our favorite shows much easier, causing the trend of binge watching.
Today some of the most popular shows that teenagers are watching Stranger Things, The Office, Parks and Recreation, and American Horror Story. Students prefer to watch shows today because of how entertaining and dramatic they are. Freshman, Everett McMurrain enjoys to watch My Little Pony because of how “special” it makes him feel. Teenagers want to disassociate, so they watch thrillers, dramatic and reality shows, such as Stranger Things or Dr. Who. Senior Alex Escribano, prefers to watch Keeping Up With Kardashians because of how “ridiculous the stars are,” entertaining her because of how unreal and pretentious they are.
As children we watched shows because of the characters we felt we could relate to, which is why viewers watched Spongebob Squarepants. Junior Mackenzie Abraham shares that “Squidward is my favorite character because he was so relatable, and the show itself was iconic.” Junior, Hikima Lukonwa, preferred to watch the cartoon Rugrats because of how “real” and “panicky” the little boy Chucky was, reminding her of herself.