List length effect

The bias project - pushin' too hard

According to Wikipedia, the list length effect means:

“A smaller percentage of items are remembered in a longer list, but as the length of the list increases, the absolute number of items remembered increases as well.”

The UX part

Every now and then, Netflix does a trick. They move ’my list’ all the way at the bottom of the page so I’m forced to scroll through all their own suggestions:

'Trending now’
’Just added’
‘Because you watched x’
‘Because you watched x’
‘Because you watched z'
And so on..

It works. I’ve learned more about their product range and I have watched films because of it. But I really, really hate it. Why? Because they take control without any warning and I can’t do anything about it.

It’s almost like an invisible person rearranges the furniture in my living room every week, it’s creepy.

Netflix has a lot to offer so they can afford the occasional dark pattern now and then. But if you’re another company: don’t push it too hard, please..