Bunkering down for winter? Enjoy this guest blog on what you need for the perfect Netflix binge...
The days are short, the air is cold, and the weather is terrible. There’s also a highly-infectious virus marauding outside, drastically limiting our social activity and preventing many businesses from operating as they otherwise would. In short, this isn’t the best time for ventures into the wider world. It’s a time to spend at home, doing what you can to enjoy some festive merriment while you wait for the nightmare to finally pass.
Understandably, Netflix has been a huge boon for many during this lengthy ordeal. Secure at the top of the streaming industry (for now, at least), it offers access to a seemingly-endless library of shows and films, providing invaluable entertainment and distraction. You can overdo it, of course (as you can overdo anything), but the occasional Netflix binge is a great thing.
This is particularly true if you make the best of it. The perfect Netflix binge can transform your day, your week, or even your month, soothing those worries and frustrations until you feel like yourself again. So how can you get it right? Here’s what you need to make it happen.
A Great Monitor or TV Setup
Maybe you have a TV in your bedroom, in which case the main concern is ensuring that your bed points in the right direction for you to be positioned comfortably. If not, rearrange the room. You might not have a TV there, of course, in which case you can certainly use your laptop — just keep in mind that resting it on your bed will probably make it overheat (and not look great).
Instead of doing that, you can cobble together a modest home cinema setup. Your laptop will probably have a suitable output in the form of an HDMI port, but if it doesn’t then it should have a smaller output port. It’ll be one of two formats: mini DisplayPort vs Thunderbolt, with the only difference involving the latter allowing you to connect other Thunderbolt enabled devices (if you don’t want to read about tech, just get someone else to set things up for you!).
Buy the best monitor you can get (factoring in the port you’ll need to use), grab a small wireless keypad (one with keys and a touchpad), and ideally get some wireless headphones so you can watch at full volume no matter how late it gets. If not, then hook up some decent speakers. These things will also be useful when you’re not watching Netflix, so they’re good investments.
A Day Free of Distractions
The big thing we left out of the title is the need to have the time and opportunity to binge on Netflix, because that’s a vital component. The perfect Netflix binge doesn’t have time for household tasks like taking the recycling out or doing some vacuuming. It also doesn’t have time for conversation that goes beyond the occasional half-hearted IM.
What’s more, it definitely doesn’t have time for parents, housemates or partners to barge in halfway through episodes. If you can’t lock or barricade your door, make sure that everyone knows you’re not to be bothered — and be ready with things to throw at anyone who makes the mistake of attempting to breach the entrance to your lair.
A Selection of Suitable Snacks
You can’t have a great media binge without some sustenance to go along with it — although sustenance might give the wrong impression by suggesting that the point is nutrition. Instead, the point is enjoyment. You need to take various things into account, though, such as mess (crumbs in bed are very frustrating), sickliness (if you get a stomach ache after twenty minutes, your binge will be ruined), and variety (it’s key to mix the sweet and the salty).
Noise isn’t a problem when you’re the only person there, as you should be. You need enough supplies to last you all day, but be careful with any foods that cause you to experience portion-control problems. And remember to hydrate! You don’t want to have an overactive bladder, but you also don’t want to cut your session short because you’re so thirsty.
A Top-Notch Mattress
Lounging around on your sofa lacks the sleepy indulgence of watching Netflix from your bed. Furthermore, it’s nice to stay in your bedroom so you don’t have to move when you’ve watched for so long that you can no longer keep your eyes open. But if you’re stuck with a mattress that’s rock-solid or so insubstantial that you could fall through it, you’re going to have a bad time.
What you need is a mattress so finely-honed that the whole day can pass you by while you wallow in blissful support. That’s where memory foam mattresses become so valuable. A memory foam mattress will yield to your form, allowing you to smoothly achieve that perfect feeling of balance. Not too firm, not too yielding. Just right.
Prop yourself up with a memory foam wedge pillow and you’re good to go!
Ready to start your binge? Explore our full range of memory foam mattresses online here.
