Less choice, please

Things used to be linear. Finite. If you wanted to watch a movie on TV, the only choice you had was whatever movie happened to be playing on one of the few TV-channels.

Now things are non-linear and infinite. If you want to watch something, you can choose virtually any movie or TV-show ever made, through a streaming service, whenever you want.

But with infinite choice also came the paradox of choice. Choice paralysis.

If you can watch anything, what to choose? Something from your watchlist? Which one? The one on Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime or HBO Max? Your watchlist or mine? Something from Recently Added? Or from the trending section? Which genre? A movie or an episode of a series? Something new, or rewatch a classic?

So many options… I can’t decide. If only someone would choose for me. If only we had less choice. We have this problem all the time, my girlfriend and I. But not tonight.

“Wanna watch something?” my girlfriend asked when I came down, after putting our daughter to bed. “Ocean’s 8 is on.”

“Ooh, yeah, good idea. I still haven’t seen that one”, I replied.

And so instead of doing our usual fifteen minutes of browsing all the different streaming services, before settling on a movie we both kind of want to see, we simply watched what was on old-fashioned linear broadcast TV. My girlfriend had already seen Ocean’s 8, but didn’t mind seeing it again.

And it was just the movie I was in the mood to watch. I always like heist movies and enjoyed the other Ocean’s-movies. It’s as if the program directors of the TV channel knew exactly what I wanted, better than any algorithm could.

If you wait long enough, oldschool tech becomes innovative again.