This isn't true, at least, it's not true of me.
Most of my viewing is Freesat, i.e. free-to-air satellite broadcasts, which I receive via a Sky box with 2Tb of storage. I scan the schedules daily, and mark what interests me for recording. Periodically I go through my recordings, and delete stuff I'm never likely to watch.
I used to have a Netflix subscription; I cancelled it when I realized that there's nothing worth watching (for me) on Netflix. Very occasionally I head to YT, but content discoverability on YT is poor.
I do care what I watch; sometimes I find that I've run out of pre-recorded shows that I'm interested in; then I stop watching. And I never have TV on "in the background".