Provisional Finding on Autoplay Resistance
A person has watched six episodes of a show they describe as fine and is now in active negotiation with the next episode, which has already begun.
Incident Report: Autoplay Resistance Date: April 21, 2021. Time: 10:47 PM. Status: Ongoing
Incident Summary
At approximately 10:21 PM, the subject completed episode six of a television series they had described, to a family member on April 17, as "fine." At the conclusion of episode six, the streaming platform displayed a countdown timer indicating that episode seven would begin in fifteen seconds unless the subject took action.
The subject did not take action.
Episode seven began.
Sequence of Events
10:06 PM: Episode six commences. Subject has already watched five episodes today, beginning at approximately 2:45 PM with the stated intention of watching one.
10:21 PM: Episode six concludes. Autoplay countdown initiates.
10:22 PM: Subject considers stopping. Consideration takes approximately four seconds. Countdown reaches zero. Episode seven title card appears.
10:23 PM: Subject acknowledges that episode seven has begun and determines that stopping at this point would require actively closing the application, which is a more decisive action than simply not pressing play, and elects to watch the first few minutes.
10:47 PM: Subject is twenty-six minutes into episode seven.
Analysis of Resistance
Resistance to autoplay was present. The subject experienced it as a mild pull toward the remote and a brief mental formulation of the phrase "I should probably stop." The resistance is not strong enough to produce the action of stopping, but it is present, and it files a report each time.
The show is fine. This is part of the problem. A show that was very good would produce a different kind of continuation and a show that was bad could be stopped without negotiation. Fine is the difficult category.
Contributing Factors
The subject has nowhere to be tomorrow morning. This information was available to the subject during the countdown and was a factor.
Current Status
The next episode began before the decision was made. The decision was not made. The next episode is now four minutes in.
The subject has muted the television once during episode seven to read a notification unrelated to the show. The notification was also fine.
Recommendation
No action recommended at this time. The incident is proceeding within established parameters for pandemic evening television behavior. A formal review will occur when the season concludes, which will happen at a time that is not tonight's problem.