The problem with choice

[azekeil]

In an earlier post I mentioned the frustration of too much choice. It occurred to me that radio could be considered proof of this - sometimes (often?) people like not having to make decisions. It also means that you are exposed to things you might not normally experience. TV is the same - it may be old fashioned of me but I actually think that TV was better when there were just four channels. Having so much choice has in my opinion diluted the impact of an individual channel, and hence the quality has gone down. Additionally, attention spans have decreased as people 'channel surf' for their preferred viewing.

kissycat1000 points out that having specific channels devoted to interest areas is a good way of exploring new material in an area that interests you - so that is one benefit of the greater choice now available.

What do you guys think? Do you welcome choice, or find it can paralyse you?

Comments

[diffrentcolours]

A bit of both. I think the trouble with choice is it makes people insular. It's too easy to surround yourself with only the things you want to hear. It's why I like The Independent as a newspaper - it frequently provides me with editorials and viewpoints that I don't agree with, which challenges me to come up with why I don't agree with them.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Yes, becoming insular is definitely a problem I think choice inspires. In fact, too little (a paranoid dictatorship?) or to much choice can achieve this.. perhaps it's yet another thing that requires a reasonable balance.

[oholiab.livejournal.com]

When presented with a multitude of choices, if I find myself unable to decide on the best course of action, I tend to go for a random course of action provided it seems interesting enough. You never know until you try.

Also, TV has always been shit. If you have lots of channels, go for Dave, previously known as UKTV G2. Top Gear, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News For You and QI. Good channel.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Well if you're able to make important decisions randomly (e.g. which uni to go to or which course to do) you're a braver person than I am!

Yup. Dave is actually reasonably interesting to me, and replaces my previous default of SkyONE (which I can no longer get as a [current] Virgin Media customer).

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's true I suppose. I probably worry too much, but sometimes I think that ignoring a whole raft of stuff simply because it falls into a particular range will mean I miss a few gems. Not so important with TV perhaps (but that sort of information should be very interesting to broadcasters).

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

BTW, I've been meaning to ask you this for ages. What do the phonetic abbreviations mean on the titles of your journal posts, if that's what they are?

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I can guess what they might stand for, but a lot of them are unfathomable to me.. :)

[theeighth.livejournal.com]

18000 days remain.
Failing to choose is a weak choice.
Choose now, there are not enough days left.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Yes, but doesn't that get a bit wearing?

[theeighth.livejournal.com]

Sometimes you have to choose to rest ^_^

[woz.livejournal.com]

I prefer choice without question. Although choosing between two equally favourable options is often difficult I still prefer to be in the beneficial position of having that choice.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

I think I was mainly thinking about overwhelming choice here in an area that you don't know much about, but would like the benefits. And it's an expensive choice, or you have very particular requirements.

Certainly in general I vastly prefer some choice to no choice, but I think what malcygoff says below is very true :)

[woz.livejournal.com]

Well once it is described as overwhelming then that implies it is simply too much to contend with. But having said that given a wealth of choice in areas I know nothing about - I just find out about them and make the most informed decision I can. THere is little else you can do except take a logical approach to tackling the choices in front of you.

Or am I making things too simple - as I often do to make sense of them.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

No, I think what you're saying is that the process you have works well for you and you don't tend to suffer the sorts of paralysis that some others including myself suffer from. That's great, and to be honest from what I know of your personality I'm not really surprised either :)

[kaz-pixie.livejournal.com]

I find that because of the amount of choice open to me I almost feel guilty when I don't want any of it - if there's nothing I want to eat, nothing I want to wear, nothing I want to watch on TV, and I think a lot of it is just taking things for granted and knowing it and still not caring. I think that's quite stifling.

To me it feels a bit like too much choice is "someone"'s way of trying to force satisfaction on people, and it just doesn't work that way, and because it doesn't we feel guilty for having so much and still not being happy.

Just a few ideas.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Hm, yes, that's quite true, and very astute of you :)

Normally when I feel like that it's time to do something I don't often do, like pick up a book...

[malcygoff.livejournal.com]

choice is a pretty well explored area from what I can tell. Generally it is believed that choice is a good thing, but I've never been so sure.

Someone far cleverer than me once said that one option is no choice, two is a dilemma and three is much better.
I tend to agree with this sentiment: one option is rubbish, it's dictatorial and leaves you wanting more. Two options give you no room to compare the market. Three is enough to get your teeth in to, whereas more than that makes the entire process too complicated.

Of course, the actual numbers are rather synthetic - the context detemines the break points - but there are very few areas where more than a small handful of genuine choices are a good thing. Unless you have completely limitless time, but if that's the case, choice tends not to be an either/or option.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

I think you have summed it up very succinctly :)