Read an article today by one of my favorite technical blogger titled Choices == Headaches. A very nice written piece, which talks about the numerous options on screen to shut down Windows in Vista, why it is more confusing and frustrating than useful to the users, and how he think it should be simplified to a few choices. Quoted by the author from another article, "We normally assume in America that more options ('easy fit' or 'relaxed fit'?) will make us happier, but Schwartz shows the opposite is true, arguing that having all these choices actually goes so far as to erode our psychological well-being.”
I found it very true, especially when this applies to our daily life, when we are looking for jobs, buying clothes or home decorative items, thinking of where to go for the vacation, choosing what to read from news, etc. The modern world has provided so many choices for our material needs, and so much information to absorb everyday, that sometimes we feel overwhelmed. This is truly a paradox. Not once have friends complained to me the various career paths he or she is choosing from, and don't know how to decide. This is rarely a problem at our parents' time, when they have limited choices, even assigned to jobs when they graduated. Also consider the hundred of TV channels we can choose from, and the numerous blogs in my Google Reader which I would like to go over everyday.
This is really a paradox, and it can only get worse. I wonder when a day would come when we spend more time choosing then consuming. i.e. spending more time flipping between channels than really watching TV.
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