Netflix constantly claims to know what I like. It thinks it understands my viewing habits to the point where it can confidently serve up movies and shows it knows I will willingly lap up. But is that actually true?
Most of us open the app with at least a vague idea of what we want to watch—scrolling past endless rows of recommendations or searching directly for a specific title. But as an experiment, I decided to lean into the machine and spend a full week letting the Netflix algorithm take total, unyielding control of my viewing.
"Today’s Top Picks for You" and "Because You Watched" suddenly became my best friends, because without them, I was utterly lost. I stopped ignoring them and actually paid attention to the content being directed straight into my eyeballs. That new show friends kept raving about? Off-limits. The next season of the series I started months ago and wanted to jump back into? Strictly forbidden. Instead, I was stuck watching only what Netflix placed in front of me. Here’s how that experiment actually went.
More of the same, until that became a problem
Things started off well enough. Thanks to my (and my partner’s) eclectic tastes, Netflix served up a swath of great movies and TV shows. Some were aimed at me, some at her, but their appearance was always entirely logical. British comedies for me to binge on? Check. Quirky documentaries for my partner to sink into? Check. Blockbuster films such as "Barbie" and "The Fall Guy" to watch on a Saturday night? Check.
I started with the first tailored recommendation beyond the general "Show of the Week" being pushed on everyone: "The Middle," a series I’d never watched but always intended to. It was as if Netflix could read my mind. Six episodes later, I was a fan, but I needed to switch things up.
Returning the next day, however, meant things had shifted. Suddenly, my homepage was flooded with similar sitcoms, foisting titles like "Young Sheldon" and "Superstore" upon me. I gave both a shot and enjoyed a few episodes, but that’s when things got tricky.
Netflix noticed I was clearly in the mood for quirky American sitcoms, so it recommended more and more of them. Perfectly logical, sure, but also a little annoying. Yes, I like "Superstore," but that doesn’t mean I want every clone of it forced on me, especially when I’m only halfway through season 1.
I got caught in a content bubble I couldn’t escape
I didn’t just watch sitcoms all week. I decided to expand my horizons while staying true to the confines of the experiment, scrolling further right past the endless comedy clones to find something different. That worked great — until the exact same cycle repeated itself with the new genre.
Categories I enjoy watching occasionally, but not often enough for Netflix to care about, simply stopped appearing. The more I followed the algorithm, the more it asserted its own choices. Every new frame I watched fed the beast more data, leading it to serve up even more of what I was "obviously" enjoying.
This isn't inherently a bad thing. Giving people more of what they want is an algorithm’s entire raison d'être. But that mindset ruthlessly destroys discovery and kills the variety that is essential to human nature.
I did find myself watching more; it just happened to be more of the exact same thing. My total viewing time increased, partly because I was being shown content I legitimately liked, and partly because I wasn't wasting time deciding what to watch. But it was a soulless experience, making me feel like a passive passenger rather than the driver.
Netflix knows me, but it doesn’t understand human nature
So, what did I learn? Netflix's algorithmic recommendations are remarkably useful for removing friction from the viewing experience. You spend less time searching and more time actually watching. However, that convenience comes at the direct expense of variety. The recommendation engine is a great guide, but a terrible explorer—the latter still requires a human touch.
If you just want to sit back and let Netflix do the heavy lifting on a Friday evening, hand the wheel to the algorithm. But if you actively want to discover something new and interesting that isn isn’t a carbon copy of what you watched yesterday, you’ll need to work a little harder and scroll a little further.
I enjoyed letting the algorithm take over for a week, but I wouldn't do it again. The more control you give it, the more it exerts. I can only imagine that a year into this, you'd be trapped in a feedback loop, watching the exact same show recommended over and over as the algorithm circles in on itself.
So, occasionally, on a Friday night after a long week at work, I’ll cede control. But for the rest of the time, I want to make my own decisions about what to watch—even if those decisions turn out to suck.
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