Modern society is built on freedom and from this we infer that more choices means more freedom, therefore must be better. It will also be better if we get to have freedom of choice more often.
Barry Schwartz wrote a book "The paradox of choice" arguing the opposite, that we have passed the point that more choice is a good thing and that more choices (and freedom) are now a problem for the developed world.
Here is his video on TED from 5 years ago summarizing his position.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM (use this link if the above video do not work for you)
Do more choices shift the blame from the world for not making jeans that fit (when there was no choice) to ourselves (for not choosing the right one when there is so much choice)?
Is having more choices the reason why our expectations are so high making us easily disappointed?
Should professionals like doctors take a more prominent role is deciding our treatments than making us weigh treatment options that we are not completely familiar with?
What about the cost of having these choices. There is no free lunch, the supermarket that provides more choice generally have higher cost, therefore higher markup and prices. Should we be shopping at stores with lower prices and less choices?
One of the human weaknesses in decision making described in the book "Thinking fast and slow" is that we tend to just look at what is in front of us when we decide. What the author call "What you see is all there is". Do more choices get around this weakness?
I also think that the more choice we have, the more our attention and resources are sucked into choosing what is just in front of us and we become oblivious to other more important things that is happening around us or just our of our sight and senses. Can we avoid reading product label after product label when the information is there even if this is just for a can of soup while precious time is slipping away?
Should we challenge the notion that we are always better with more freedom?
Barry Schwartz did not offer what the right amount of freedom is optimal. How would we know when we reach that optimal and start ignoring or limiting our choices after that? Can we resist?
Dan comments.
ReplyDeleteThe Barry Schwartz utube link did not work smoothly for me.
Here is the link to the TED original. Note also the comments which follow ,which contain a lot of hints at how we might choose to vigorously discuss the topic.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html
[20 minutes]
Here is one more link -10 minute video bears on our topic
"Over the years, research has shown a counterintuitive fact about human
nature: That sometimes, having too much choice makes us less happy. This
may even be true when it comes to medical treatment. Baba Shiv shares a
fascinating study that measures why choice opens the door to doubt, and
suggests that ceding control -- especially on life-or-death decisions --
may be the best thing for us. (Filmed at TEDxStanford.)"
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/baba_shiv_sometimes_it_s_good_to_give_up_the_driver_s_seat.html
All things considered I feel more comfortable in the belief that "I" am in charge and can ,with minimum effort, avoid being distracted by too much choice.
If I think about consumer responsibility I would imagine a world where I have the capacity for choice. That all options where open to me, and that, I could follow through with my choices unimpeded. But a competative market makes that difficult at best! Misleading information and inadequete access to certain products, my coices are limited. But still awareness when shopping does help. Choice as a consumer outcome, where better choices means more choices and more rewards is an outcome value and can be a dillema. Especially if chocolate is my favorite product.
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