One of the biggest changes to my life since I was a child is the way we watch television. From just three channels which closed down at night we have progressed to the point where we can watch thousands of programmes and movies at any time of the day or night.
We were relatively late adopters of satellite television as I was reluctant to pay the British television licence fee then more on top of that to watch.
Night feeds watching teletext job search scroll past as an alternative to facing asleep over a feeding baby convinced me to give in to my husbands desire for satellite television. To anyone who thinks you should gaze lovingly into your babies eyes while they feed I say - do a few weeks of night feeds and then come back to me.
This was before we even had dial-up internet in the house and the prospect of broadband was merely a twinkle in a nerd's eye.
So up went the satellite dish and a whole new world of programming was opened up to us.
Now, like many people we have broadband and finally after many years of our village campaigning for it, a half decent speed. Actually it's a terrible speed compared to many and we only have one choice of provider but it's enough to enable us to finally abandon satellite television for streaming services.
The children voted for Netflix and it has proved very popular with the whole family. They all have their favourite series and more than ever we find ourselves able to choose something we all want to watch on the rare occasions we are all together at the same time.
So how can you make the most of your Netflix Account?
Firstly, make sure you are signed up for their emails to find out what new content has been added. The platform is so huge you could scroll for days discovering what's on. I find the emails really useful and they will often inspire me to watch something I might not have given a second glance to.
You could check out the monthly round up from The Guardian which offers an easy to access what's on guide with a bit of blurb about each programme.
On this subject, be open minded about your viewing. I used to watch the same sort of programmes all the time but nudged mainly by my older children have watched and enjoyed stuff I wouldn't have expected to enjoy.
I particularly enjoyed recently The Good Place, Grace and Frankie and unexpectedly, Santa Clarita Diet - all shows with some really dark humour. Its sometimes difficult to work out what you might enjoy so search for reviews then make a decision about viewing with that in mind.
Make the most of your device allowance. Download the app on your tech to enjoy your fave programmes out and about. My children prefer to watch via their laptops or tablets and even on their phones. I'm actually not sure of my cat's preference but how cute is this pic?
One of the most frustrating things about streaming is that still the US often gets new content before we do here in the UK. You get all excited about a new series then realise it's not coming to us for a while longer.
It seems so unfair that US Netflix has way more content than our service but we cannot access it. It's really annoying when you hear about a new Netflix show then see its country specific and we aren't getting it. Or you go on your hols and realise your account isn't working in the country you are visiting.
Many people use a VPN with their Netflix account to get round these issues to "geo-spoof" their location. When I'm out in Cyprus I heard a conversation amongst ex-pats discussing which VPN service they prefer to be able to access their favourite programmes from their new homes.
People worry that using VPNs is not legal but in most countries it is. Check before using in China, Russia, Turkey, Iraq, and the UAE among a handful of others including Iran and North Korea as they have different views on the legality of using VPNs.
So what about using VPNs to watch Netflix? I got this from the website, Tech Advisor posted in Feb this year:
"In the current Netflix Terms of Use it states that ‘You may view the Netflix content primarily within the country in which you have established your account and only in geographic locations where we offer our service and have licensed such content.’
We were relatively late adopters of satellite television as I was reluctant to pay the British television licence fee then more on top of that to watch.
Night feeds watching teletext job search scroll past as an alternative to facing asleep over a feeding baby convinced me to give in to my husbands desire for satellite television. To anyone who thinks you should gaze lovingly into your babies eyes while they feed I say - do a few weeks of night feeds and then come back to me.
This was before we even had dial-up internet in the house and the prospect of broadband was merely a twinkle in a nerd's eye.
So up went the satellite dish and a whole new world of programming was opened up to us.
Now, like many people we have broadband and finally after many years of our village campaigning for it, a half decent speed. Actually it's a terrible speed compared to many and we only have one choice of provider but it's enough to enable us to finally abandon satellite television for streaming services.
The children voted for Netflix and it has proved very popular with the whole family. They all have their favourite series and more than ever we find ourselves able to choose something we all want to watch on the rare occasions we are all together at the same time.
So how can you make the most of your Netflix Account?
Firstly, make sure you are signed up for their emails to find out what new content has been added. The platform is so huge you could scroll for days discovering what's on. I find the emails really useful and they will often inspire me to watch something I might not have given a second glance to.
You could check out the monthly round up from The Guardian which offers an easy to access what's on guide with a bit of blurb about each programme.
On this subject, be open minded about your viewing. I used to watch the same sort of programmes all the time but nudged mainly by my older children have watched and enjoyed stuff I wouldn't have expected to enjoy.
I particularly enjoyed recently The Good Place, Grace and Frankie and unexpectedly, Santa Clarita Diet - all shows with some really dark humour. Its sometimes difficult to work out what you might enjoy so search for reviews then make a decision about viewing with that in mind.
Make the most of your device allowance. Download the app on your tech to enjoy your fave programmes out and about. My children prefer to watch via their laptops or tablets and even on their phones. I'm actually not sure of my cat's preference but how cute is this pic?
One of the most frustrating things about streaming is that still the US often gets new content before we do here in the UK. You get all excited about a new series then realise it's not coming to us for a while longer.
It seems so unfair that US Netflix has way more content than our service but we cannot access it. It's really annoying when you hear about a new Netflix show then see its country specific and we aren't getting it. Or you go on your hols and realise your account isn't working in the country you are visiting.
Many people use a VPN with their Netflix account to get round these issues to "geo-spoof" their location. When I'm out in Cyprus I heard a conversation amongst ex-pats discussing which VPN service they prefer to be able to access their favourite programmes from their new homes.
People worry that using VPNs is not legal but in most countries it is. Check before using in China, Russia, Turkey, Iraq, and the UAE among a handful of others including Iran and North Korea as they have different views on the legality of using VPNs.
So what about using VPNs to watch Netflix? I got this from the website, Tech Advisor posted in Feb this year:
"In the current Netflix Terms of Use it states that ‘You may view the Netflix content primarily within the country in which you have established your account and only in geographic locations where we offer our service and have licensed such content.’
This could be construed as saying that viewing content from other countries is permitted, if not implicitly stated. And, in any case, you're not breaking the law if you do something that contravenes a service's terms and conditions."
Interesting stuff. I'm looking forward to the day when we don't even have to hide our location to access great entertainment but in the meantime this looks like a good work-round.