Sometimes, Less Is More

Picture Courtesy of scagozo.com

Overabundance of choice can be debilitating.

Barry Schwartz, the author of The Paradox of Choice, isn't saying that choice is bad. As a matter of fact, the freedom to choose for ourselves is fantastic. What he is saying, however, in the article The Line Between Clarity and Chaos - An Interview with Barry Schwartz by Liz Danzico, is that too much choice isn't fantastic. If anything, it sucks!

How many times have you stepped into a store and felt overwhelmed because there's too much stuff to process at once? You don't know where to begin and you certainly don't know when or where to end. As a result, you're flustered and frustrated which leads you to either make a decision to regret later or no decision at all.

And this happens with... pretty much everything! You have to wonder at a certain point if you're truly better off having to choose from 50 different ice cream flavours. Perhaps choosing from 10 is just fine. Perhaps evaluating 2 search engines is more efficient than going through them all (i.e. Google, Yahoo, Excite, MSN Search, etc...), especially when they essentially offer the SAME THING!

Then, there's picking which one's the best. That's when you fall flat on your face. Determining among 70 pairs of sneakers which is the best would put anyone in an asylum! In the end, do you really leave Foot Locker with THE best pair? Nobody can truly know.

But, there would be a better chance to know if there was less to pick from.