I hate when people recommend stuff to me

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Whenever there is a new tv show or movie people sometimes say “you need to watch this”, “you should watch this”, “you have to watch this” and that kind of bothers me. Why would I want to watch that particular show or movie? Why would I be interested in that kind of thing? Maybe I’m not that interested, maybe I don’t want to watch that. It just feels so forced to me for them to say have, should or need. I don’t have or need to watch or not watch anything I want. There are a lot of tv shows and movies that are old, new, ongoing, popular, are considered the greatest thing of all time that I have missed out on for multiple reasons. I’m not interested in their subject matter, I don’t feel like it, they might deal with subject matters I can’t deal with, I forget they exist, I probably prefer to rewatch old stuff I like. But really it’s because people keep recommending them to me and it feels so forced that I’m kind of put off by it. I might be kind of a hypocrite for saying all this because I think in the past I have recommended stuff to other people but I have been trying not to recently and if someone says they don’t wanna watch a show or movie despite liking something then I will say nothing and respect his or her decision. Honestly I don’t think I would mind people recommending something to me if they say “if you want” or if you are interested”. Another reason I can think of to not watch recommended shows and movies is that I sometimes suffer from intrusive thoughts and I’m afraid some of those movies and shows are gonna put those thoughts into my head.

I feel the same way. I stubbornly refuse to watch shows that have a lot of hype and people telling me to watch them. I think it started unconsciously, but now I'm pretty defiant about it. Besides, many of the shows that get a ton of hype that I've seen were really overrated.

They've literally thought of you enough to recommend something to you because they care about you. If anything that is actually a massively positive thing. Having people care enough about you to mention stuff like that means they want you to watch it because they know small things about your personality and think you might like it. It's just a friendly nice thing to do.

They are trying to connect with you, just be nice back in a positive way and your friendships with people will grow.

Should is a rude word.

For most things.

Nts throw it about cos they don't think about the meanings of words properly. Or tend not to anyway.

We ought to not use this as an excuse to be imprecise ourselves.

It's easy to reword it.

Polite, non forceful, recommendations include 'I enjoyed ... perhaps you would too?' or 'I noticed ... it has ... elements that you like, maybe you would like to check it out?' or 'did you know your favourite actor is in ...?'

The words maybe and perhaps allow for more freedom than words like 'should' and esp words like 'must'.

Reserve words like 'should' for moral judgements. Words like 'must' for moral judgements or safety advice. You must wear a seatbelt in a car. You shouldn't watch horror movies around little kids.

I'm lucky that the only people who would recommend things to me and know me well enough know that this is an annoying habit that actually puts people off doing it. They just mention things they've watched and if I fancy it, sometimes I watch it too.

Me and my cousin do exchange books. With books this usually works well. With TV it works really badly - she's NT and used the 'you should' with me and I ended up watching Normal People and feeling guilty over stopping doing so cos it was so boring and nuanced and NT.

While I respect your position and where you're coming from, language is tricky enough for me to use without worrying about which exact word I'm supposed to be using. Language policing like that feels too much like what I get from NT's at work - always having to be laser precise with every single word they expect and prefer to hear, and a different word that means the same thing isn't good enough, I have to use their exact desired word. Can't say "current", gotta say "amperage", even though amperage literally IS the measure of current. Over-precise language eventually becomes jargon anyways, and then only those who speak that particular jargon understand what's going on. A that point it's more a tool of exclusion than it is one that facilitates communication.

I try to take all recommendations as simply someone else trying to share an enjoyable experience. Personally, when I taste delicious food, I like to let other people know so they too can enjoy delicious food. If they get pushy about it, that's different. But even when someone enthusiastically says "oh you HAVE TO watch this!", I still just take it as an expression of their level of enjoyment, and their desire to share a positive experience with others. I don't actually *have* to, it's hyperbole meant to convey their enthusiasm.

This kinda reminds me of those teachers that would give kids crap for politely asking "can I" instead of "may I".

I'm mixed as to whether or not I'm receptive to the recommendations from people who know me personally. More often than not, the other person's thoughts behind recommendations are well......thoughtful. I sense mutual sentiments apply when I make recommendations.

What are thoughts on the recommendations from services like Netflix? Services like Netflix apply algorithms to make recommendations based-on what a given customer has requested.