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Social media wasn’t even a gleam in my eye when I first read The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
Early in the book, Schwartz paraphrases Nobel prize-winning economist and philosopher Amartya Sen as follows:
[Sen] suggests that instead of being fetishistic about freedom of choice, we should ask ourselves whether it nourishes us or deprives us, whether it makes us mobile or hems us in, whether it enhances self-respect or diminishes it, and whether it enables us to participate in our communities or prevents us from doing so. Freedom is essential to self-respect, public participation, mobility, and nourishment, but not all choice enhances freedom. In particular, increased choice among goods and services may contribute little or nothing to the kind of freedom that counts. Indeed, it may impair freedom by taking time and energy we’d be better off devoting to other matters.
Any of that resonate for you in a social media context? On the one hand, the proliferation of social media tools, communities of shared interests, platforms for the wider dissemination of ideas and opinion, etc., is a great thing. On the other hand, the seemingly infinite number of tools, communities, platforms, etc., can be overwhelming and enervating.
Abundance of choice has made each choice we make more complex, Schwartz says. Choice overload makes you question the decisions you make. And while each choice may solve a problem, it creates a whole new set of problems requiring our attention.
Schwartz illustrates his thesis with examples of choosing the right jeans, the right health care plan and even the right soul mate. But if the overwhelming embarrassment of internet riches offers unlimited opportunities for social engagement, doesn’t it also threaten to paralyze us in our tracks, investing more and more time in determining the right tools, the right socializing opportunities, the right people to follow, the right places to comment, and so on? At what point does the investment of time and energy tip over into a colossal time suck where costs outweigh the benefits?
Schwartz does offer advice on how to limit choices to a manageable number and focus on those of greatest value while ignoring the rest (no easy task). You’ll have to read the book to get the full picture, but here’s a quick synopsis:
- Choose when to choose. Managing the problem of excessive choice requires deciding which choices matter most and focusing our time and energy there. This means letting many opportunities to choose pass us by.
- Be a chooser, not a picker. Choosers determine which decisions are important and whether a choice even must be made. Pickers are more reactive, passively selecting from whatever is available.
- Satisfice more and maximize less. Learning to accept “good enough” rather than always seeking the best simplifies decision making and increases satisfaction in your choices.
- Think about the opportunity costs of opportunity costs. Ignoring opportunity costs can lead to overestimating the value of the choices we make, but dwelling too much on them lessens the satisfaction we derive from our choices. Schwartz suggests sticking with a choice once made unless truly dissatisfied, and avoiding the temptations presented by the many “new” and “better” choices that inevitably will come down the pike.
- Make your decisions non-reversible. Here’s a tough one in the era of “Free.” But final decisions enable you to move on to other issues and options.
- Practice an “attitude of gratitude.” Strive to be more grateful for what’s good about your choice and be less disappointed in what’s lacking.
- Regret less. Regret that becomes so pronounced that it poisons or prevents decisions should be minimized.
- Anticipate adaptation. The initial satisfaction we experience from our choices doesn’t remain strong. Be realistic about how your experience of your choice is going to change over time.
- Control expectations. Eliminate excessively high expectations by reducing the number of options you consider and allow for a degree of serendipity that results in unexpected pleasures.
- Curtail social comparison. Stop paying so much attention to how (and what) others are doing around you.
- Learn to love constraints. Accepting certain rules, standards or limits frees you from making the same decisions over and over again. Focus your energy on the options and decisions where no rules apply.
If you haven’t read The Paradox of Choice, this is one choice I encourage you to make. Then consider how Schwartz’s advice might help you deal better with the abundance of choice we’re all contending with in our little digital cornucopia of social media delights.
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Thanks for a thought-provoking post, Dan! The Paradox of Choice just made it onto my reading list. Every point you make here rings so true. Those principles make it easy to see that it’s better to do some soul searching, figure out what we really “need,” and then learn to be satisfied with “good enough.” And not like that’s a bad thing. Most of the time, “good enough” is pretty darn good to begin with! Just because something isn’t perfect or the “best” or you didn’t spend years searching or waiting for it doesn’t mean choosing something else is a compromise. It means you’re flexible enough to make a success of whatever comes your way, and wise enough to know that sifting through options takes away valuable time and energy you could be using to make something “good enough” into something great.
Thanks, Michelle. I like your perspective on starting with something “good enough” and building to greatness from there. For the perfectionists among us, I think it’s a healthier approach than trying to get everything just right immediately out of the gate.
Dan,
I’m glad you’re out there finding and posting relevant material and offering sound advice. As I watch many of the people I work with I am struck by their obsession with media rather than message. They pick what tools they want to use and then try to figure out what to say.
For me the exercise has to start with the message and the goal. Once these are established, informed choices can be made about means and media, traditional as well as social. And I agree completely with the notion of making decisions, making them work as best they can and moving on. Nothing to be gained from second guessing.
David
David – Thanks as always for the kind words and your thoughts on the subject at hand. I agree completely with your assessment that many have the process backwards with their tools-centric focus. It never ceases to amaze me how many otherwise smart people get caught up in this. If you set your goals, figure out your message, define audiences and then develop a strategy, which tools to use becomes much more immediately apparent (or at least what to try out).
Dan,
Good post. I was thinking about writing something about this over at my blog just the other day. I came across it via LinkedIn. You’re dead on with the state of social media and the content frenzy it has created in our lives. Yes, it’s supposed to help us connect and get information quicker. However, there are an abundance of services with tons of replication and our “options” keep growing and growing. At some point, the social media bubble has to burst and there will be consolidation. Look at the Facebook/FriendFeed news. I think we’ll start to see more and more of that as people will want less and less options, and more value in the content.
Nice work on the blog. I’m adding it to my roll.
Thanks Don. I greatly appreciate the link. And I see you and I were on the same wavelength this week in posting Did You Know 4.0. Those videos should be required viewing in the C-suites of every organization large and small.
I agree with you re the pending consolidation phase, but I wonder if we haven’t passed the point of no return with respect to anything ever being of a manageable size or number of options. I think “limitless and overwhelming” are the New Black.
Great post, Dan and one that is close to my heart when I see the myriad combinations available in a sandwich store. I once walked out of a sports footwear store because there was just too much to choose from…..
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