Is there a such thing as too many choices?

I long for mom. Not for her love and support though that is great. I long for her lack of choices. She would ask me do you want PBj and milk or ham and coke. I can eat at some fast food places and be assaulted with choices not just between burgers but also Burrito, pasta, and pizza. Coke is now Coke Zero, classic Coke, Diet coke, vanilla coke, cherry coke and many more combos.

Psychologist Barry Schwartz looks at freedom of choice as it crosses with the multiplicity of choices in modern culture. In Schwartz's estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.



I think the true problem of choice is a problem of music to noise. With 200 kinds of cereal, what is the "meaningful" difference? This one says it is good for you, this one has blueberries, or blueberries and bits of apple dyed blue to resemble pieces of blueberries. We are being paralyzed by variety. We become chained to the possibility of the next and loose all contentment. Where is the meaning between these choices? Too many choices can make choosing very hard and make enjoying the meaning of a thing feel vaporous.

One discipline often imploded in the Christian life is simplicity - Ecclesiastes observes that “God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising” (Eccles. 7:30). We need to learn to let go of many preference the world tries to give us. I don’t care if my IPot cover matches my shoes.