Whilst unwrapping presents and carving the turkey are the things we typically associate with the festive period, a survey conducted by OnePoll for Netflix found 58% of people in Britain who say that gathering the family to watch a film or TV episode is the highlight of their Christmas day.
Yet for all the festive family spirit, the present we most crave may well be a bit of “me” time – with the average viewer admitting they can only take three hours of family time before sneaking off for a bit of respite.
Technology comes to our rescue with a quarter of us who that think services like Netflix make it easier for everyone in the household to find something for all the family to watch during Christmas. However, the TV revolution also means it is easier to sneak off from the family to watch TV elsewhere. One third of us admit to heading off to the bedroom to watch TV and nearly one in ten locking ourselves in the bathroom on a tablet or phone for a breather.
Wherever we are watching, we telly addicts watch an average of nine movies over the Christmas period, with three hours spent with the family watching TV on Christmas Day.
Most men say they would choose Holly Willoughby as their dream partner to snuggle up on the sofa with and catch a Christmas movie, with women surprisingly picking comedy duo Ant and Dec ahead of hunks like David Beckham.
Betsy Sund of Netflix said, “Christmas is a great time to get the family together, and in front of the TV is still everyone’s favourite place to do it. But the way we watch TV has changed so much in recent years. Tablets are one of the fastest growing ways to watch Netflix , which means we can watch what we want, where we want- and with whom we want. It seems we are using technology as bit of escape hatch, grabbing a portable device and a bit of time-out from the family Christmas pressure cooker, as well as a way of bringing the family together.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
