If you’re overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices you have in picking something to watch from a host of options these days, you’re not alone. A new survey out of the U.K. certainly rings true on our side of The Pond: adults there spend more than 100 days of their lives deciding on what to watch.
The survey of 2,000 Britons, which was commissioned by the cable service NOW, reveals adults will spend time flicking through eight TV channels and nine film titles before making a final decision.
This works out to an average of 24 minutes and 24 seconds spent deciding on TV shows and 25 minutes choosing movies — or 55 days across an adult lifetime for TV choices and 57 days trying to pick a movie.
As staggering as this may seem, it’s higher for people in the U.S. Vox reported back in 2019 that Americans spend 45 hours per year choosing what to watch next — and that was before Tiger King was a thing.
So using those numbers as an example, someone who’s 18 will spend 116 days deciding what to watch by the time they turn 80.
The UK survey also noted who usually makes up their minds for the house: women more commonly got the final say.
That said, 41% “shop” for a show or movie by genre, 37% look to who’s in it, and 28% say the length of the movie is a key factor. Similarly, 23% said a TV show’s length influences their decision.
Another thing you may have in common with your British counterparts? Forty-mine percent in that U.K. survey say they get so overwhelmed with deciding what to watch that they ultimately decide to not watch anything.
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