In gaming, they call this "humane design," techniques like giving players an obvious place to take a break. By contrast, things like the infinitely-scrolling news feed and the autoplay video queue are grossly inhumane; they serve to obfuscate the fact that there's a decision point there, subtly trying to make the choice for you even if you might have wanted to do something else if you had thought about it. And of course it works, that's why everyone does it.