by Sabrina Redlingshafer

They watch it on their smartphones, on their TVs and even on their loaner netbooks.

They watch on the weekends, on the weekdays, at school, in class, once they get home, the timespan before dinner, after dinner and probably even during dinner – if they can.

Meet the Dudley sisters, Gretchen and Beth, and their friend Kelly Gardella. They watch Netflix. And just about any show or movie available on the digital distribution service at that.

These three girls are self-diagnosed Netflix addicts.

“I am definitely obsessed,” sophomore Gretchen Dudley said.

“Netflix is like my best friend,” junior Kelly Gardella proclaimed.

“Yeah, well, except for me,” friend Beth Dudley jokingly rebutted.

According to its website Netflix is “the world’s leading internet subscription service for enjoying movies and TV shows.” The service allows over 30 million global members to “watch TV shows & movies anytime, anywhere.” Subscribers can browse the array of titles and “watch instantly” through on-demand internet streaming or select DVDs to be shipped flat-rate by mail.

The Dudley sisters and Gardella spend just about all their downtime utilizing the “instant streaming” on Netflix.

“I turn it on at like 3:30 [p.m.] and turn it off at like 8 [p.m.] for dinner, then back on 9 [p.m.] after dinner,” Gretchen admitted.

“Sometimes when I could be actually doing something with my life, I go on Netflix and I find a really good show and I’m like, ‘Whatever, I guess I’ll watch it,’” Gardella said.

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So, how far do these girls go with their obsession? They watch it at school.

“Yes, I watch it at school,” the Dudleys and Gardella unanimously remarked.

“I sat in the back of [Ms. Mary] Montag’s biology class and just watched ‘Gossip Girl’,” Beth confessed.

“Last year when we each had loaner computers, we asked Mr. [Jeff] Zimmerman to make Netflix faster on our computers, and so he did,” Gardella revealed. “And we would party-watch on my large, big screen. It was really intense.”

The three teenage girls find it difficult to pick between Netflix and homework.

“If I spent half as much time studying as I did watching Netflix, I’d have 100 [percent] in each class,” Beth said.

However, the girls accept the fact that they’d rather spend their time with eyes glued to a screen full of glamorous shows, eye-opening documentaries and dramatic teen-angst movies.

“Netflix just takes up that empty space of time when you don’t wanna be doing homework,” Gardella explained. “Like when you’re sitting at home like ‘I should be doing something, but I don’t want to. I could read a book OR I could watch Netflix!’”

Despite the amount of time each girl devotes to Netflix, they do not think it is a severe detriment to maintaining desired grades.

“I mean, I don’t fail [classes] because of Netflix,” Beth said.

“Even if I didn’t have Netflix, I probably wouldn’t be doing my homework anyways,” sister Gretchen agreed.

The interview wraps up. The three girls discuss their plans for the school day ahead.

“I think I’m gonna go home,” Gretchen said. “I’ll probably watch Netflix,” she added with a shameless smile.