This has been around for a long time, before Netflix. My dad and much of his generation get lonely when the TV is off, so he leaves it on at all times on whatever, while working or watching sports. Network TV does this with predictable crime dramas and sitcoms, cables got Hallmark movies and reruns of family guy, etc. Half-tune is a popular format for pretty much most age groups.

I explicitly don’t do this, but I do have podcasts for my second screen in a sense-- only I won’t do them unless it’s a grindy game or Minecraft or something, and usually the podcast is taking my cognitive attention. It’s disruptive if it’s a thoughtful activity, like scrolling social media (though I guess the fediverse is a little more engaging than slopbook or whatever).