Imagine you have just reached the end of a long day and what seems like a mirage before you is in fact the couch you’ve been longing for since you left hours ago. You manage to carry your exhausted self just a few more steps and then let gravity do the rest as you plunge into comfort. After taking in a glorious moment of peace, you look to the television. The remote is almost out of reach, but you manage to pick it up without sacrificing your positioning. You power up the TV and start scanning through your streaming options; an activity you will still be doing an hour later because you’re so tired you can’t make a decision.
You probably don’t have to muster much energy to imagine this situation because you’ve probably experienced it — and probably more often than you’d like to admit.
Good news is that Netflix might have a possible cure for this plight. “We are testing the ability for members to play a random episode from different TV series on the Android mobile app,” according to a Netflix spokesperson who confirmed this with Deadline. “These tests typically vary in length of time and by region, and may not become permanent.”
What does this mean? Well, instead of having to choose what to watch, this new Netflix experiment would allow subscribers to just leave it up to an algorithm. Sometimes we just need something to help take our minds off the day for 30-60 minutes. It can be very difficult attempting to make that decision when our energy has drained and the day’s stressors are hanging out on a merry-go-round in our heads. So we often just give up and go to bed — which one could argue we should just do instead of watching anything.
For those lucky enough to help pilot this new feature, they will find a new feature in their Netflix account called “Play a Random Episode,” which will do that very thing if the user chooses to select it. Participating series will display a red icon that signifies they are eligible for this “shuffle” option.
