This is the most annoying thing. I am confident Netflix and others have data that this increases “stickiness” or some other made up engagement metric, but as a user, it just leaves me frustrated.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics—whenever a company relies too much on data to influences UX or content I feel like we end up with a bad UX and bad content that only superficially increases short-term engagement.

Data-driven decisions only go so far, IMO, and often the search for more data leads to blatant user privacy violations. Personally, I wish we could go back to the dictatorship-style UX: one person is ultimately in charge of UI. They have the final say in every UI decision for that application. At least that’s consistent!

Seems like you are alternately being assigned to the control group and test group of an A/B usability test.

It's a proven method in gambling games. Oh you thought you clicked "my list"?

Sorry, but now you have a list of trending stuff, look at all this good stuff!

You want to watch some, right? Do it now or later, no pressure!

It also helps retain people who would otherwise leave in some cases.

I just want the ability to hide things.