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Comment by nip180 | Hacker News Reader

It was very ironic that Netflix, who once said that sleep is there biggest competition, releases a documentary about how it’s rivals in the attention economy are harmful.

Yes, Netflix doesn’t advertise directly to me, but many of the effects are still present. The way I think and behave can be changed by programming I watch on Netflix. Netflix uses a recommendation engine to keep me engaged. Netflix has implemented several design patterns to keep people engaged, such as auto loading the next episode.

It was specifically ironic for them to attack YouTube for kids while Netflix has a children’s offering, and most of the known downsides about screen time for children applies wether or not advertisements are present.

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I appreciate the irony, but as a parent I can say that I much prefer my children on Netflix than on Youtube. (Caveat - there is more deeply interesting content on Youtube, but its pieces of civilisation flotsam to be salvaged from a river of shit.)

Plus your last paragraph I just don't agree with at all, ads for kids definitely has a huge impact, it was not just moral panic that made that regulated in the TV space many years ago. Youtube is so full of ads and undeclared (not that it matters to kids if its declared, and doubtful it matters much for adults either) product placement.

Well, the difference is, that YT needs you to watch more to show you advertising to make money. Netflix just needs you to pay your subscription. That is a big difference, as far as the payoff of using psychological hacks goes. I believe, that if Netflix was ad-based it would be a hell of a lot more addictive.

TV addiction is a huge problem in the western world. The average American spends more than 2.5 hours watching tv a day, and Netflix is a large part of that. Even worse, Netflix promotes “binging”, of watching tv for long periods of time.

Netflix is clearly addictive, and there businesses model is based on people spending large amounts of time watching their programming and talking about it.

Fortunately Netflix's recommendations are (almost) never compelling enough to keep me watching. :-)

I'm also much more cognizant of the time lost by committing to another 30-60 minute episode vs. a few minutes for another YT video.

But it does seem like some sort of regulation might be required to give consumers some control over dark patterns (i.e. force them to include settings to turn things like auto-play off).

> YouTube for kids while Netflix has a children’s offering,

Weird how a supermarket selling sugary cookies would criticize a man giving away speedballs in the park.

Isn’t that the essence of Netflix’s point? That Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc are far worse for you than Netflix.

It’s hardly an unbiased position, considering Netflix is bidding on attention just like TikTok or YouTube is

I think there is a huge difference. Netflix gives me the freedom to cut out ads and watch what I want (from what is available anyway). That is why I have always loved Netflix and have always enjoyed not having cable tv (which always felt like it was a net negative experience).

I will admit that I have binge-watched episodes when I should have been doing something else, but I also believe Netflix provides a beneficial role in my life.

Also, it saves Netflix money if I don't bindge watch everything - as long as I still value the subscription and plan to come back - it doesn't matter to them how much I watch.

In fact, this might convince me to purchase Youtube Premium just to signal that I value ad-free paid-for-content and I believe we can build a world without ads.

Agreed, I'm starting to think the Internet is becoming a net negative in people's lives. Maybe if everyone reverted to 2G speeds for a few basic tasks and we can leave SocialMedia/Games/Video behind.

You can make real friends in games.

Man, it's gotten so bad that I rely on Netflix to help me sleep. I'm also surprised they would release this. I think they're hedging on being transparent about the effects of screen time on people because there's probably a political reckoning waiting for tech companies if Trump lose this election, so they're trying to get ahead of this political possibility so they can stay under the federal radar and retain the ability to self-regulate.

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