I've used this analogy elsewhere, but I play a lot of TTRPG's. Or more accurately, I gamemaster a lot of table top roleplaying games. So the Sims is a chance for me to play, as well as be the storyteller. I leave autonomy on as I more or less use that as my "randomizer" in my sim's development. Sometimes it's interesting to see what sims do on their own, especially child and teen sims who will sometimes act like they have additional traits that they haven't developed yet. I'll often use their random actions to determine what their next trait should be when they age up.
And in a bit of amusing autonomy, my current sim is in drama club. I'd have her watch tv after she finished her homework and before going to bed, and I would just select "watch TV" rather than directing her to a specific channel. I plan on having her go to University to be a lawyer and later a politician, but at the moment she has no traits relating to either of those.
She would choose politisim and world travels to watch on her own.