Password sharing is a well-known phenomenon among Netflix subscribers. The basic idea was that you’d get the cheapest subscription and then share it among a few people. They might be your family members, friends, neighbors, romantic partners, or random acquaintances.

The problem is that this makes your account very vulnerable. Namely, you can’t control who else gets your password. So you might’ve found random members of your community using your sub.

Netflix has been cracking down on password sharing very heavily. AP reports that the video streaming service has also been raising prices in order to bring in more revenue. So far, it’s been a success for the company.

From July to September 2023, Netflix brought in 8.8 million new subscribers over the globe. This shows just how broadly password sharing took place. But the real numbers are even more shocking.

We were curious to hear why people tend to feel so strongly about protecting their privacy in the digital sphere. "Apart from the obvious concerns about personal and financial safety, which should never be underestimated, there are some psychological predictors on valuing and displaying online privacy behaviors," Professor Reed, from Swansea University, told Bored Panda via email.

According to the host of 'Digital World, Real World,' knowledge about the digital system predicts wanting more privacy.

"People who are anxiously attached share more information because they trust the system more, but then they worry about it," Reed said.

"Those who display the characteristic of openness show more privacy as they ultimately are open to learning about the system and its limitations."

Meanwhile, Bored Panda asked the professor about the essence of having a healthy relationship with all things digital, as our daily lives become more closely interwoven with our online personas.

"Boundaries are the key, as in all things," Reed told us.

"Knowing what you are using it for, knowing its dangers and limitations, and switching it off when you don’t need it, are absolutely key."

According to Statista, Netflix had around 247.2 million paid subscribers in the third quarter of 2023. Most people using the streaming service live in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa: a whopping 83 million subscribers live there.

Netflix has changed its business model after a less-than-stellar performance in the first half of 2022. In November of 2022, the company introduced an ad-supported tier. Around 1 in 4 new subs use this plan.

Unless you’re living completely off the grid (good for you!), wherever you turn in modern society, you’re leaving a digital trail of some kind. You go to work and you log into your office computer. You go out for a cup of coffee and if you pay by card, you might have to input your PIN code, and there’s a record of your transaction.

You come back home and log into your social media accounts and your streaming services. And if you enjoy listening to audiobooks and reading high-level journalism, you might need to register for those, too. Passwords, passwords, endless passwords everywhere!

The issue is that you want your password to be something that you can easily remember if you ever get logged out of your account. At the same time, if your password is too basic, then you increase the risk of getting hacked. But with so many passwords that you need to keep track of, you end up doing one of three things.

You either ignore security concerns, use one or two passwords for everything, and pray for the best. Or you might keep a super secret notebook full of your most important logins (God forbid you lose it or someone gets their mitts on it…).

Or you use a trusted (and definitely paid) service that helps you keep track of all of your passwords, across all of your accounts and devices, while also adding an extra level of security.

These days, logging into anything from a new device is… well, it’s a process. Things are definitely on a whole other level compared to a couple of decades ago. Now, you have two-factor authentication, codes sent to you in emails and SMS messages, emails asking you to confirm whether it’s actually you trying to log in to your account from wherever you might be.

Though all of those processes might be a tad draining, they serve an important purpose. They ensure that everyone has at least one other layer of security, in order to protect personal data.

Few things are nastier than having someone break into your property and have a snoop around—whether digital or physical. Anyone who’s ever had an account hacked knows that disgusting feeling deep in the pit of their stomach.

The improvements in password security also raise another important issue. Namely, hackers have gotten so sophisticated that all of these additional layers of security aren’t just recommended, but they’re absolutely necessary.

However, nobody should be naive enough to think that there will ever come a time when all of your data will be completely safe. The fight between security specialists and hackers is neverending and takes place on a constantly shifting battlefield.

For some more examples of entitled people who 'borrowed' others' passwords and accounts, feel free to check out Bored Panda's previous article.