What Netflix Can Teach Us About the Paradox of Choice
Today’s dizzying number of options might just be making us miserable
I have been rather disappointed with Netflix lately. After it delisted a few of my favorite shows (ahem, Doctor Who) and I spent a few weeks struggling to find anything good to watch, I started wondering if the Netflix overlords had adjusted their strategy. Maybe they were hoping to appease a wider variety of tastes by offering more lower-quality content.
As someone looking for ways to apply data science to everyday life, I decided to look at some patterns to test this hunch. While my hypothesis was somewhat wrong, what I discovered gave me some surprising insight into the psychology of choice.
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to obtain data of all the externally produced shows Netflix offered, year by year. However, this information is available on Wikipedia for Netflix originals, and the show ratings are available from IMDb. So I focused my analysis on these original shows, looking first at the average rating for each one.
We have to take mental responsibility for what we choose, instead of simply blaming Hollywood for churning out crappy content.
