Entertainment Streaming How to stop Netflix from asking 'are you still watching?' In case you were feeling judged by the streaming service. By Alec Hively June 17, 2026 9:30 am EST Hamara/Shutterstock Nothing is more humiliating than being ridiculed by an inanimate object. One moment, you're crying (again) over Love On The Spectrum , ruining your third t-shirt in four seasons, and the next you're being berated by your television screen as everyone's favorite streaming service asks, "Are you still watching?" The pop up is a callous reminder of the mountain of undone tasks upon that morning's horizon. But how can I do anything productive unless I know whether Connor and Georgie found neurodivergent bliss? What I jokingly call a passive-aggressive message is simply something Netflix sends automatically after three episodes, or 90 minutes, of uninterrupted television. If you're watching on something other than a television, the dreaded question will appear after three episodes if a viewer hasn't used "any video player controls." Of course, sometimes it just feels like the message intuitively appears at the peak of my Sunday night depression binge-watch sessions.
Netflix, for its part, isn't shaming its subscribers out of some perverse sense of schadenfreude. Instead, the California-based streamer puts forth two reasons behind those prompts. The first is that Netflix doesn't want you to lose your place in its programming, as few entertainment experiences are more frustrating than waking up during the series finale and getting spoiled. The second might come as a surprise to some viewers.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2195725/turn-off-netflix-are-you-still-watching/
Netflix, for its part, isn't shaming its subscribers out of some perverse sense of schadenfreude. Instead, the California-based streamer puts forth two reasons behind those prompts. The first is that Netflix doesn't want you to lose your place in its programming, as few entertainment experiences are more frustrating than waking up during the series finale and getting spoiled. The second might come as a surprise to some viewers.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2195725/turn-off-netflix-are-you-still-watching/