“From jeans to dating partners and TV subscriptions to schools, we think the more choices we have the better. But too many options create anxiety and leave us less satisfied. Could one answer lie in a return to the state monopolies of old?”
This was back in 2015. Tesco scrapped products off the shelf to give people less choice so they would buy more.
Is this a good thing?
I was thinking about this today because I was overwhelmed with choice. Before subscribing to HBO Max, I had a few choices of some free subscriptions. There were a few shows I wanted to watch, but the choices were pretty limited. I happily binge-watched what I could but secretly wished I had more choice. With HBO Max, there’s a ton of choices. But now I sit here not knowing what to watch. I’m sure it will subside once I start watching, but it made me think about it.
In what things do you want more choice? In what things do you want less choice?
Medicine,less choice.Will it make me better or not?
Other things I quite like.When I was a kid we had a choice of bread between white or brown.Now when I go to our supermarket’s web site there’s four pages of choices.
I used to make bread in a bread machine. That’s where I liked choice. I made so many different kinds of breads from fruit breads, nut breads, all kinds of grains and different doughs for pizza, cinnamon rolls. I wanted to do sourdough but it was a bit of an art.
We went on a school trip when I was about 14.Train through France,Switzerland and Italy.Meals on the train and breads from the different countries,I didn’t want to go home.
Supermakets, I tend to know what I am wanting so do not find any problem with choice.
TV now there is a conundrum we have loads more channels but for me less choice.
Freeview is full of channels showing looped repeats which go on for years. Even the main channels are guilty of this with Channel 4 being the worst.
I submitted a Freedom of Information request to the BBC, cannot remember off hand the figures but they too show an high percentage of repeats across their channels.
In other areas too much choice can be a pain, I used to build my own PC’s and it could take months to decide on components for every part of the system.
As an example, where I live now we are extremely limited with our choice of supermarkets and thus with what shopping we can buy and even how much we must pay for that shopping - if I suppose you ignore the delivery option, but some of us like to see what we are buying before we part with our cash.
So there’s no choice of 12 different brands of baked beans here and the choice of fresh fruit & veg or meats is quite limited.
When I visit more-populated areas there is very often a huge variety of not only supermarkets and thus choice of food products close at hand, but these supermarkets are each generally far larger and contain far more variety that the ones nearest to me and I do sometimes (or TBH quite often) miss that choice.
It even extends to things like buying petrol for your car, because here there is just one petrol station which, being privately-owned, is usually pricier than supermarket forecourts.
So yes I’d agree that you can have too much choice and that sometimes that can lead to problems, but so can having too little choice.
Does a good balance between to two even exist?
Too much choice could cause problems in politics if PR was to rear it’s ugly head. For all it’s faults, at least our present system of first-past-the-post gives an instant decisive answer once the election counts have been completed.
Maggie Thatcher liked to give us choice and looked how that worked out.
At one time buses stretch from one end of Princes Street in Edinburgh to the other as we had so much choice of buses.
Then there are the utility companies another success story? Far to many companies chasing after customers offering cheap deals that were really not sustainable.
It reminds me of my ex when he used to park the car in an almost empty car park.
Oh that looks like a good spot,oh no that one looks better it’s closer to the exit…oh wait that one looks even better cos it’s close to the pay kiosk.
There’s also to much choice on tv and still there’s nothing to watch
Light bulbs. Look for a bulb and the isles are swamped with hundreds of the damn things. The number of people in B & Q asking ‘which do I need’? (including myself), is staggering.
Perhaps there are courses at University to help us find the right ones.
Gone are the days when you could go into a shop and come out a few minutes later with the ones you need.
I know Pesta
40w 60w and 100w they were the only choices we had many years ago.
Now you got halogen,led .flourescant etc,etc…And as for the different types of fittings that in itself is a science
Then there’s warm light,cool light…I just want a bulb !
I don’t like too much choice…I get overwhelmed and can’t make a decision! I have a list for shopping and stick to it. I don’t watch too much TV so I don’t care about the channels really - although I did prefer it when there were only 3, then later on, 4 channels. The stuff was more watchable than it seems to be now. Other than that, I know what I like and tend to stick with it…I’m not swayed by multiple variations of the same thing.
Unless its relating to arts & crafts…I can’t leave the shop for hours once I’m in!
When I worked in Italy, the wife of an English colleague returned to Rome from a holiday back home in Chester saying she didn’t like shopping in English supermarkets any more because there was far too much choice in stores, let alone products, and it confused her. Where we lived in Rome we had a choice of exactly 2 supermarkets, 1 a short walk away, the other a short drive away. A couple of years before we returned to England, a brand new shopping mall opened about 20km from where we lived that had a hypermarket as its “anchor” store. What a revelation that was. The extra choice for us was amazing and almost as good as a Tesco Extra.
Haha ha, I’m guilty of being quite fussy over the design and colour temperature of light bulbs depending upon the fitting & room @Pesta .
I know, it’s quite sad really.
That makes at least two of us then. Mrs LD refuses to become involved and leaves all the lighting decisions to me …quite right too! My feet are too big to fit close to the sink anyway
Heh, so much choice … warm white in living areas but cool white in our kitchen & bathroom - but not the sort that make you look like a green or blue alien.
I have a list for shopping and stick to it. I don’t watch too much TV so I don’t care about the channels really - although I did prefer it when there were only 3, then later on, 4 channels. The stuff was more watchable than it seems to be now. Other than that, I know what I like and tend to stick with it…I’m not swayed by multiple variations of the same thing.
