Too much choice is too much trouble. For you and for the planet.
Choice overload and well-being
Freedom to choose has what might be called expressive value. It enables us to tell the world who we are and what we care about. In other words: choice enables us to express our identity. In the western consumer culture we associate this expressive choice with consumer choice. We learned to construct our identity through choosing the right clothes, car, phone, education, etc.
“Consumer culture encourages us not only to buy more but to seek our identity and fulfillment through what we buy, to express our individuality through our “choices” of products.” (1)
With the help of logic we can thus conclude that the more consumer choice we have, the bigger the freedom to express our identity, and ultimately the more satisfied we are with our choices. Not so fast, warns us Barry Schwartz in his book The Paradox of Choice. Too much choice can backfire and have a negative impact on our well-being.
Imagine yourself standing in front of the cereal aisle in a grocery store. Chances are that there are at least a dozen options, or if you live in the US 50+ is not unusual.
Staring at the wall of cereals you have to make a decision. Does this make you anxious? How can you decide from 20 excellent options? Or maybe excited? So much that you want to try them all. But you have to stick to the budget so should it be chocolate or strawberry? Hoops or flakes? And while you are pondering about all the flavours and shapes, the idea to take one and miss out on the rest drives you crazy.
This is just a glimpse into the myriad of possible negative implications of choice overload to illustrate the principles Schwartz presents in the book: the more choices there are, the more time and mental effort it takes to make a decision, and chances for regret, anxiety, and unfulfilled expectations are also higher.
Yes, we need a certain number of choices to feel in control and express ourselves. As Schwartz says “Freedom and autonomy are critical to our well-being and choice is critical to freedom and autonomy.” However, he also explains that there is a tipping point when the number of choices becomes overwhelming and starts to work against the consumer.
“The fact that some choice is good doesn’t necessarily mean more choice is better.” (2)
Choice overload and its impact on the planet
In order to understand how choice overload impacts the planet, we have to broaden our perspective. First, we have to understand how we end up with such an abundance of choice (overproduction), and second, we have to look into the possible consequences of choice overload (overconsumption).
1. Overproduction
The cereals in that aisle don’t just appear from thin air. The crops need water and fertilizer, then it has to be processed, packaged and transported (multiple times). All these activities use up precious natural resources, and produce substantial amounts of emission and waste.The more choices there are on the shelves, the more production is needed to supply them, and consequently the bigger the environmental impact is.
The sad thing is that in spite of all the energy and resources dedicated to production, an ample amount of products never leave the shelves. Grocery stores for example purposefully overstock to save customers from the “suffering” of half empty shelves or, god help us, running out of their favorite cereal brand.
“If a store has low waste numbers, it can be a sign that they aren’t fully in stock and that the customer experience is suffering.” (3)
The common practice is to order more than they can sell and dump perfectly edible food to the landfill by the tons. Charming.
Or let’s look at fashion brands. Trends are coming and going, new collections arrive weekly, it is no surprise that demand is fluctuating. Instead of producing just enough for the predicted demand, brands produce more than necessary and rather burn unsold items at the end of the season to avoid saying: sorry we’re sold out of this color.
Producing all the stuff so consumers can express their identity through material consumption already abuses the planet. But realizing that a huge chunk* of it never even gets used is just outrageous. All the energy, resource, time and manpower that went into the production is wasted.
And how about all the junk products that don’t hold any value whatsoever? Just think about Wish for a second, or watch this video to grasp what we mean by “junk”. What twisted logic can possibly justify the existence of these products? Our life wouldn’t be any worse without them. Yet here they are, using up our precious resources, cluttering our lives, and, at the end of their absolutely useless life, filling up the landfills.
2. Overconsumption
Unfortunately we found little to no research about how choice overload directly leads to overconsumption, but we connected some dots and came up with three scenarios. First, simply we buy more because we want to try all the different options. Buy both the chocolate and the strawberry…and let’s get the hoops…and also the flakes. Second, to avoid the uncomfortable mental process of making decisions we might end up buying out of habit. We stop questioning if we really need an item, just keep buying because we always do. Third, impulse buying is another mechanism to cope with the mental discomfort of choosing. Instead of ruminating about the possible choices, just buy whatever is the closest or has the most flashy packaging. We all know this often leads to regret and stuff we won’t use.
What to do?
As individuals we can be more selective which choices are worth our time and attention. Maybe we can spend less time pondering about morning cereals and instead focus our attention on figuring out pension or investment options. Or here is a more radical idea: we can choose not to choose! Simply refuse to spend your time and energy on trivial choices. Eating cereal is not even your thing? Just stop buying. Set your priorities and weed out all the consumption choices that don’t bring value to your life.
The question of systematic change is more complex. Unfortunately there is no objective way to say what is too much choice. Tolerance for the abundance of choices is highly personal and also depends on the context. Setting a framework, like 15 different types of cereals is the optimal amount for people to make comfortable choices, is not a viable option. On the other hand, regulating what products are allowed to enter the market to offer an improved yet narrowed choice palette is a major political and economical question. Who would do the curating and how? How to categorize what is junk and what is valuable? Would our strive to cut down on choice end up limiting innovation? How would the consumers react?
We don’t have all the answers yet, but what we do know, and have presented in this article, is that choice overload is not healthy. It can be detrimental to our well-being, and it is definitely detrimental to the planet.
RESOURCES:
(1) Dittmar, H. (2007). The cost of consumers and the “cage within”: The impact of the material “good life” and “body perfect” ideals on individuals” identity and well-being. Psychological Inquiry, 18(1), 23–31.
(2) Schwartz, Barry, 1946-. The Paradox of Choice : Why More Is Less. New York :Ecco, 2004.
(3) https://www.businessinsider.com/why-grocery-stores-throw-out-so-much-food-2014-10?r=US&IR=T
*we need exact figures about pre-consumer waste, if you have a good source please share.
