Paired your Xbox One, iPhone, smart television or just about anything else you can find with a subscription to Netflix’s streaming video service? You now finally have the option to disable the post-play functionality that allows Netflix users to accidentally binge on their favorite television shows even while they’re asleep.
Officially dubbed Post-play, the feature — when turned on — automatically takes users to the next episode in the series they’re watching. In theory, this allowed Netflix users to keep on watching the things they enjoy without having to reach for the remote. In practice, the feature also guaranteed the millions upon millions of Netflix accounts kept on running even though the person watching them had long stopped watching. By default post-play is enabled on all Netflix accounts.
A post on Netflix’s help site indicates that users can turn off the functionality from within their account settings. That’s great news for anyone who fell asleep watching the first season of The West Wing only to wake up to the writing and uninspiring pretend thrill ride that was the fifth season of that show.
Yes, we exaggerate, Post-play only allowed users to watch to consecutive episodes before shutting down. Still, just imagine the horror.
