New Study Reveals We Spend 18 Minutes Every Day Deciding What To Stream On Netflix
10:30pm. Your apartment. You just ate your dinner cereal and you need to drown out the big dogs howling outside. It’s time to let Netflix into your night and blissfully whisk you from the time you shouldn’t be asleep until when you have to be. What to watch? “Chelsea,” “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters”… Yeah right. Luckily you’ve heard “Mud” was pretty good. And didn’t “The Big Short” win an Oscar this year? Huh… you didn’t know Paul Rudd was in a new Netflix movie? You’re also two seasons behind on “Orange is the New Black,” and crap, you haven’t even started “Breaking Bad” yet.
We’re guessing you’ve been in this predicament before. You started working through the list of shows in your queue like you’ve been promising your friends. It’s not their fault for recommending so many shows, it’s yours for not trying them. Jesus, just make a decision! Are you at the point in your life it takes you 18 minutes of your life to decide what television to watch?
Well, you’re not alone! According to The Wrap, a new study by Reelgood and Learndipity Data Insights found Netflix users spend on average 18 minutes on a given day deciding what to watch, or twice as much as cable television viewers. Netflix patrons also spend more days watching entertainment per week, but watch fewer programs per day as cable. This makes sense in Netflix’s longer-form programming compared to cable, but could also be chalked up to that nine minute increase in ambivalence.
Notably, the same study found viewers become more trustworthy of friends’ recommendations when on Netflix (30 percent value a recommendation over 19 percent for cable) and couples bicker over what to watch more often (40 percent of Netflix-using relationships want to watch something different from one another, compared to 30 percent for cable).
READ MORE: 7 New Netflix Shows to Binge Watch in July 2016 (And the Best Episodes of Each)
Aziz Ansari’s new show “Master of None” expertly reflects this generational affinity for searching through social media until they find the “best” version of any given product. That show is on Netflix right now! You can also check out Ansari’s killer supporting role as Tom Haverford in “Parks & Recreation,” which is also streaming in its entirety. Or, if you like stand-up, you can look at all of his — OH NO, IT’S HAPPENING AGAIN.
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