Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube Red, Apple TV… the list goes on, literally. HBO recently launched a new streaming service called HBO Max, which apparently is different from HBO’s preexisting streaming services HBO Now and HBO Go. I honestly couldn’t tell you the difference between any one of these, but it seems like a new streaming service comes out every week, each claiming to be bigger and better than the one before. 

With the diminishing popularity of cable TV, more people are switching to these streaming services for their main source of entertainment. This is understandable considering live television doesn’t really give someone the ability to binge-watch 14 episodes of The Office in one day (not based on personal experience or anything). Also, can we talk about commercials? I don’t want to sit through 15 commercials about bundling my home and auto insurance just so I can watch a television show.

Despite these obvious benefits of streaming services, they can also be extremely overwhelming. If you came here to get peace of mind about this abundant flood of streaming services in our world today, I, unfortunately, do not have the answers, as I too am wondering these same things. Which one do I choose? Do I need more than one? Should I get premium? These are the questions that keep me up at night and haunt me throughout the day. 

Every streaming service has something different to offer (or so they say), but as a student who is just a few years away from entering college and the lovely world of student debt, I can’t afford to subscribe to all of them. But there are always specific shows/movies I want to watch that only one particular streaming service offers, and of course, it isn’t the one that I don’t have. This then sends me into a whole other never-ending cycle of confusion and sadness.

So I plead to Jeff Bezos (who I assume controls the whole world), when will this madness stop? How many more streaming services will we let invade our society before we finally put an end to it all? Although streaming TV shows and movies has its perks, I can’t say I won’t miss PBS telling me that it’s “viewers like me” who keep them going. 

PBS, I’m sorry I let you down. I am just one girl against an army of streaming services and I cannot hold them back any longer. It’s been a good run for cable and I will forever cherish sobbing uncontrollably because my parents didn’t record the latest episode of American Idol. However, I think it is time that we just accept our fate and surrender to the all-powerful streaming services.