It is the weekend, outside it is cold and the night-in you have thought about for the whole week has arrived. You looking forward to laying in your bed or on the sofa with a warm cup of tea and some sweets in front of a good movie, one that leaves you thinking, that makes you emotional and that lets you escape from the daily routine.
The moment has come, the tea is warm and the blanket is just starting to warm you, so you take the remote and open Netflix. Suddenly a feeling of anxiety begins to creep in: wow, there are so many options, what should you choose? The memories of all the other nights where you stayed up late choosing a movie and up not choosing any or a very bad one come to you all at once. However, you decide to stay calm. Inhaleand exhale, you look at the suggestions of Netflix. Fifteen minutes pass. No, nothing is catching your interest. You look through your “saved for later” list. As a matter of fact, you have been saving so many movies to watch for later during the exam session, and now it is time to dive in! Yet now, these movies do not sound as good as they did when you did not have time to watch them. Half an hour has passed. The tea is cold. You are too warm now, the blanket is almost annoying. You are feeling frustrated by this point. Why are you so stressed? Was it not your free night? The one you had been dreaming about while studying? You need to choose; no more time to waste. Finally, you end up choosing a random movie, which turns out to be boring. Or, you choose the same old movie you have watched a thousand times but you always enjoy.
This scenario is a common experience. You are not alone in facing this situation; we all have been through this and, believe it or not, behavioral economics may give you an explanation.
The endless options offered by the Netflix catalog can be overwhelming, often leaving you lost. Some people may say that this is what makes Netflix so good: you have so many movies to watch all in one place and for just one monthly fee. It is incredible! There is always something new to watch, without ads and without ever getting bored. Well, while multiple options can be a good thing, having too many may create problems for us. This phenomenon is called the “Paradox of choice”: it has been proven (Kinjo and Ebina, 2015) that when individuals are presented with many options, the costs of not choosing one option increases, thus making it harder to choose the option that is the best for us. This is linked to the “FOMO” (Fear Of Missing Out) concept: while it is usually applied in different contexts (Akbari et al., 2021), the fear of missing out is relevant also to this scenario. Indeed, since there are many options and not all of them can be explored thoroughly, it is not unusual for us to feel that choosing a movie implies not choosing others that may be much more entertaining and in line with our preferences! This paralyzes us, and it is the reason why we keep looking for a better option. However, since there are so many, we end up just scrolling the catalog for hours without ever choosing anything.
Besides, the problem is not only that we might choose something worse compared to other options, but also that we are afraid of regretting our choice later. What if we choose something we do not like? In order to avoid this incumbent issue, known as “Regret Aversion”, we usually spend more time looking for details and descriptions of the movies we are offered, and the choice is therefore delayed.
At the same time, choosing a movie to watch means investing at least one hour and a half of our time. We usually perceive this as a “commitment” that cannot be taken lightly. What is the likely conclusion to this sad story? Behavioral economics says that there are two main foreseeable scenarios: for one, you end up choosing something you have already watched and know for sure you like. This bias is called the “Status Quo” bias (Samuelson and Zeckhauser, 1988), according to which individuals tend to stick to current or known situations. The so-called “comfort movies” may therefore be the plausible outcomes of our long-awaited movie night.
On the other hand, it is often the case that we end up selecting a movie we do not like that much, thus creating in us a feeling of dissatisfaction. You may ask, why not change the movie while you are watching it upon realizing it is not enjoyable? Well, it is not that simple. The “Sunk cost fallacy” shows that since we started watching it, switching to another movie implies too high of a cost. We indeed tend to stick to our initial choice even if it does not maximize our utility anymore. Therefore, you may be stuck watching a horror movie, once you start it, even if you prefer romantic comedies!
To avoid these unpleasant outcomes, it is essential to recognize that selecting a movie is therefore not such a light-hearted decision to take! Be prepared, and if you want to enjoy a relaxed night, try and choose beforehand what to watch.
References:
Kinjo, K. and Ebina, T. (2015), Paradox of choice and consumer nonpurchase behavior. AI & Soc 30, 291–297, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-014-0546-7
Akbari, M. et al. (2021) Fear of missing out (FoMO) and internet use: A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis, https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2021.00083
Samuelson, W., Zeckhauser, R. (1988). Status quo bias in decision making. J Risk Uncertainty 1, 7–59, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00055564
https://www.shortlist.com/news/science-behind-indecision-netflix-grocery-shopping-study
https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/regret-aversion
https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/a-netflix-conundrum-the-cognitive-impairment-3f2744a8597d
B.BIAS 