美国国家公共电台 NPR When Your Shared Netflix Account Outlasts The Relationship

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Now that we're past Valentine's Day, we can tell this story about sharing. You know, people try to share things when they love each other, including passwords for their video and music streaming services. But what happens when they break up? NPR's Yuki Noguchi finds out.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE²: A couple years ago, 20-year-old graphic³ design student Aleta Dignard-Fung got dumped by her boyfriend.

ALETA DIGNARD-FUNG: It was a pretty bad breakup.

NOGUCHI: Only later did she remember he still had the password to her streaming music account.

DIGNARD-FUNG: You know, part of, like, getting over someone is being able to listen to your jams in the shower and maybe cry or something like that.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SORRY")

JUSTIN BIEBER: (Singing) Is it too late now to say sorry? 'Cause I'm...

DIGNARD-FUNG: I remember I'd just, like, blast my music in the shower, and then it'd change. And it'd start playing Bulgarian folk music because he's Bulgarian.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing in Bulgarian).

NOGUCHI: They continued battling for control, pushing each other off the shared account.

DIGNARD-FUNG: So I'd hop⁴ out of the shower all mad. And I'd switch the song, and then I'd get back in the shower. And then it'd switch again. And I'd hop out of the shower again. And, like, it was just kind of like the Spotify wars. And we'd just spend, like, 10 minutes trying to override⁵ each other's songs.

NOGUCHI: Breaking up is hard to do and harder for some who share streaming music and video profiles. The expression Netflix and chill isn't just code for date night. It speaks volumes about how closely relationships entwine with digital life. But on the backside of a breakup, unwinding these entanglements⁶ can get messy. Some spurned⁷ lovers exact revenge by changing the password just as their ex reaches the climactic season finale.

Either way, it's not just love that's lost. It's also playlists, movie recommendations and passwords. Susan Winter is a relationship coach and author. She says accessing those accounts after a split can trigger sorrow and longing⁸. And getting blocked by an ex has the ring of permanent goodbye.

SUSAN WINTER: Those are the last little pieces to crumble⁹ that signify, oh, we really aren't connected anymore.

NOGUCHI: Unless, of course, you remain connected but don't realize it and your ex lurks¹⁰ around incognito¹¹.

WINTER: I had a client who was trying desperately¹² to get his ex back. And they shared an account on OpenTable. And even though they were separated, she never changed it. So he would track where she went to see if she was on a date.

NOGUCHI: And sometimes, joint¹³ accounts on Netflix or Spotify far outlast¹⁴ the actual relationship. Brenna Kutch is a 34-year-old human resource manager in Portland, Ore. She says merging¹⁵ digital accounts is a sign of commitment, like wearing a boyfriend's sweater.

BRENNA KUTCH: We don't necessarily, like, get married and have kids at 21 anymore. But we do combine all of our accounts and share passwords.

NOGUCHI: A couple years ago, Kutch shared her ex-boyfriend's Netflix password with her now-spouse. She acknowledges it was odd having her new love piggybacking off her ex. But Kutch says breaking up with the old account wasn't easy.

KUTCH: Because I was too lazy to, like, go through, make a spreadsheet, figure out, like, what shows I was watching and which season and episode I was on for each one.

NOGUCHI: So she lingered for months.

KUTCH: And you can't extract your profile. That's got to be a feature that they're coming up with at some point.

NOGUCHI: Netflix says it hasn't. Jill Hill is executive vice¹ president at Magid, a media and entertainment strategy firm. She says more than half of young adults use someone else's streaming video accounts, even people they haven't dated or don't really know.

JILL HILL: This is like the story of the password sharing from the neighbor who got it from the neighbor who gave it to the neighbor.

NOGUCHI: This is familiar territory for Charlotte Russell. Russell works as a barista in Philadelphia and has access to Hulu, Netflix and Spotify all courtesy of other people. One ex-boyfriend let her set up her own profile on his Spotify family plan.

CHARLOTTE RUSSELL: And I'm still on it. And that was, like, two years ago.

NOGUCHI: She even shared it with another man she dated. Russell subsequently dated a woman in New York. They broke up last year, but Russell remains¹⁶ logged into her Netflix and Hulu accounts.

RUSSELL: I think about it sometimes. Like, when is this going to end?

NOGUCHI: Russell sheepishly admits she's saving 30 dollars a month using various borrowed accounts from people she's no longer dating. And it leads to some awkward moments.

RUSSELL: Last time I, like, couldn't log into it, I texted her. And I was like, hey. Like, what's the Hulu password? And she replied with, we're not dating anymore (laughter). But she, like, gave it to me immediately after saying that. So I don't know.

NOGUCHI: Russell says in a strange way, it enables her to maintain connections with the people who've passed through her life. And besides, now yet another friend is using her ex's Hulu password. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

4 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

5 override   

vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于

参考例句：

• The welfare of a child should always override the wishes of its parents.孩子的幸福安康应该永远比父母的愿望来得更重要。
• I'm applying in advance for the authority to override him.我提前申请当局对他进行否决。

6 entanglements   

n.瓜葛( entanglement的名词复数 )；牵连；纠缠；缠住

参考例句：

• Mr. White threaded his way through the legal entanglements. 怀特先生成功地解决了这些法律纠纷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At dawn we broke through the barbed wire entanglements under the city wall. 拂晓我们突破了城墙的铁丝网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 spurned   

v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Eve spurned Mark's invitation. 伊夫一口回绝了马克的邀请。
• With Mrs. Reed, I remember my best was always spurned with scorn. 对里德太太呢，我记得我的最大努力总是遭到唾弃。 来自辞典例句

8 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

9 crumble   

vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁

参考例句：

• Opposition more or less crumbled away.反对势力差不多都瓦解了。
• Even if the seas go dry and rocks crumble,my will will remain firm.纵然海枯石烂，意志永不动摇。

10 lurks   

n.潜在，潜伏；（lurk的复数形式）vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Behind his cool exterior lurks a reckless and frustrated person. 在冷酷的外表背后，他是一个鲁莽又不得志的人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fortune lies within Bad, Bad fortune lurks within good. 福兮祸所倚，祸兮福所伏。 来自互联网

11 incognito   

adv.匿名地；n.隐姓埋名；adj.化装的，用假名的，隐匿姓名身份的

参考例句：

• He preferred to remain incognito.他更喜欢继续隐姓埋名下去。
• He didn't want to be recognized,so he travelled incognito.他不想被人认出，所以出行时隐瞒身分。

12 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

13 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

14 outlast   

v.较…耐久

参考例句：

• The great use of life is to spend it doing something that will outlast it.人生的充分利用就是为争取比人生更长久的东西而度过一生。
• These naturally dried flowers will outlast a bouquet of fresh blooms.这些自然风干的花会比一束鲜花更加持久。

15 merging   

合并（分类）

参考例句：

• Many companies continued to grow by merging with or buying competing firms. 许多公司通过合并或收买竞争对手的公司而不断扩大。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• To sequence by repeated splitting and merging. 用反复分开和合并的方法进行的排序。

16 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。