Recommended Life

This chapter addresses how profiling and social sorting shape consumption and entertainment through recommendations and nudges. It looks at a conversation between a man and his grandchild while they were deciding what to watch. The grandchild mentioned a movie which Netflix says is a 96-per cent match to his tastes. He explains that Netflix tracks what he watches and whether he likes something, then suggests other programmes it thinks he might like. The man then talks about the importance of pushing one's boundaries and getting exposed to new stories, ideas, and genres to learn stuff and cultivate new tastes. When the conversation turned to the news, the grandchild mentions Facebook, which he claims is another thing that only shows him what it wants him to see. He also talks about targeted ads and algorithms.