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Over 28 Million Americans Have 'Cheated' On Their Partners With Netflix

Odds Are, Your Partner Is Cheating On You.. With Netflix
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By 

Deputy Managing Editor Of Impact & Innovation, The Huffington Post

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Forget the milkman. Your significant other is more likely to be cheating on you with Netflix.

A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Netflix found that 51 percent of those in relationships are likely to cheat on each other... by watching TV shows on Netflix alone that they promised to watch with their partners. Over 28 million Americans have already done it.

The study shows that people are pretty good at keeping secrets. Only 14 percent of cheaters feel guilty enough to confess, while 32 percent re-watch the episodes without speaking up. People are sneaky! If you can keep it quiet that you watched the season finale of "Mad Men" without your beau, what else are you hiding? Twelve percent of people even admit to re-watching the episodes and faking their emotional reactions so they don't get caught. Wow.

In March, New York magazine's Maureen O'Connor wrote a story about cheating on her boyfriend with Netflix. When all of "House Of Cards" was released at once, what was she to do? She snuck into the living room and watched the whole season while her boyfriend was asleep. She eventually confessed. This isn't just about romantic couples; lots of O'Connor's friends cheated on their friends and family, too.

Harris Interactive even went so far as to see where the cheating was happening. Turns out, people are cheating everywhere. Sixty-six percent cheat by themselves on the television, 21 percent in bed while their partner is asleep, 10 percent while traveling for work, 7 percent in the other room while their partner is home, and 5 percent... in the bathroom. Eek.

However, women tend to have a bit more Netflix fidelity. Seventy-seven percent of men said they would cheat, while only 57 percent of women said they would. We know your game now, and we're watching you, men.

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Before You Go

Netflix Tips And Tricks
Don't Watch A Movie Without Rating It (01 of04)
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When you finish a show or movie on Netflix, the site requests that you give it between one and five stars, based on how much you enjoyed it. You're not being asked to rate that content for kicks, or so that you can later reminisce about how much you liked a certain film: Rather, Netflix has spent many years improving its recommendation engine, even offering a $1 million prize for anyone who could up the accuracy of Netflix recommendations by 10 percent.At this point, the Netflix recommendation engine is pretty darn accurate -- it takes into account your own ratings as well as the viewing habits of those similar to you. Basically, the more films you rate, the more you're likely to enjoy a Netflix recommendation. If you constantly find yourself frustrated that there's nothing on Netflix, take a half hour or so and knock out a few hundred ratings on the "Taste Profile" section of the site, and make sure you've filled in your genre preferences, too.Finally, if Netflix persists in recommending a title that you're just never going to watch -- for me, that would be "The Lincoln Lawyer" -- remember that you can click on the "Not Interested" button on any film's homepage and it will disappear from your recommendations page while simultaneously smartening up your future recs.(For an in-depth look at the Netflix recommendation engine, and how it works, I recommend this post on Netflix's official blog.) (credit:Netflix.com)
Don't Fly Blind (02 of04)
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Leaning on Netflix's recommendations alone ensures that you'll discover some good flicks; if you're really committed to shaking all the leaves from the tree, however, you're going to need some backup artillery. There are several excellent extensions that you can add to your favorite browser to augment your Netflix experience and increase your chances of sniffing out a great new film.An extension like "Rotten Netflix," for example, inserts little Rotten Tomatoes scores beneath every movie poster on the website, so that you can instantly know how a movie fared with critics. Similarly, the "IMFlixDB" extension displays a movie's IMDB ranking on a white bar above the Netflix homepage and gives you quick access to that film's information page. The ever-prodigious members at Reddit use the wisdom of crowds, meanwhile, to constantly vote up streaming movies that you might otherwise miss. It's a super-active community with consistently high-quality recommendations: Check it out here. (credit:TomatoFlix)
Don't Let A Film Disappear (03 of04)
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Another Netflix specialty website is InstantWatcher, a clean website that allows for easier movie search than you'll find on the Netflix homepage. And while many outlets toast InstantWatcher for its quick and robust search functionality, we like it because it also lists the notable films that will disappear from Netflix Instant soon. There's even a Twitter feed that does nothing but tweet out the names of soon-to-be-expired Netflix movies.There is no worse feeling, in the whole entire world, than sitting down to watch a movie you've had in your Netflix queue only to discover that the movie has disappeared. Don't let it happen to you again. (credit:InstantWatcher.com)
Don't Be Afraid To Quit (04 of04)
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One of the really nice things about a Netflix subscription is that you pay month-by-month; it's not like a cell phone contract where you're locked in for two years and you have to pay an exorbitant fee if you want to get out early or cancel service. With Netflix, you can quit for one month and come back the next: Netflix will save your queue and ratings for up to two years so that if you do come back, you don't really have to start over.So, if you're taking a vacation, or studying for the LSATs, or going to prison, just cancel your account and save yourself the $8 for as long as you need. Or, if you are one of our Olympian Netflix bashers from above, go ahead and try life without the 'Flix for a month or two and see how you do. Your account information will be waiting for you when (or if) you return; and, hey, if you do, now you have plenty of new ways to find the excellent movies and TV shows you might have missed while in exile. (credit:Netflix.com)
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