I love having Netflix and Amazon video ready to stream. I have watched some great shows and I plan to watch more. But, I want to explore, read the descriptions and decide. I strongly dislike the autoplay feature on Netflix where all I have to do is pause on a show's icon and it starts to play.
I have heard of binge watching but I don't like to binge anything. Mindless consumption, what I suppose is slack-jaw gaping at whatever pops up on the screen is not for me. I want the chance to look, to consider, to ponder even. I used to be able to move up the screen above the links to what I have been watching and look at possibilities without having them instantly begin playing. Now, I find that the upper area of categories has the same dumb immediate play feature I fled from below.
I watched a TED talk by Tristan Harris, former Google employee with a responsibility for ethics. His talk focuses on the control of opinion that gets exercised by Facebook and other computer features. He mentions that some sort of autoplay is part of Facebook, which I don't participate in. But, he says, once Google, Instagram and Twitter see what Facebook does, they want to do it, too. I guess this autoplaying stuff is an example of a feature hopping from program to program.
Please join the World Anti Autoplayers (WAA) and petition your national, state and local government, your local churches and news outlets to work against this sneaky thief of individual choice and consideration, this unAmerican practice. It's a gateway drug to more binge watching and will ultimately destroy our world and our cherished way of life!
