  The tech industry has been criticised for designing applications that
undermine individuals' autonomy. Recommender systems, in particular, have been
identified as a suspected culprit that might exercise unwanted control over
peoples' lives. In this article we try to assess the objectives of recommender
system research and offer a nuanced discussion of how these objectives can
align with users' goals. This discussion employs a qualitative literature
survey connecting the dots between relevant research within the fields of
psychology, design ethics, interaction design and recommender systems. Finally,
we focus on the specific use-case of YouTube's recommender system and propose
design changes that will better align with individuals' autonomy. Based on our
analysis we offer directions for future research that will help secure rights
to digital autonomy in the attention economy.
