Endless Choices, Limited Value?

I was talking to a friend over the Fourth of July weekend about how much I love the freedom of America and the endless opportunities we have each day.

The topic then shifted to the sheer amount of options when it comes to entertainment and the many pleasures that lie at our fingertips.

At first we talked about how amazing it was to have all of these choices, but then began to think about the downside to this gluttony of options. Many of us can have most everything we want, but should we actually get it?

For example, I can hop onto Netflix right now and watch every season of Lost, or the first season of New Girl (I won’t because I like my plots to make sense and am not a hipster.) I can then hop online and go through hundreds of kitten pictures on Reddit, listen to every song by Cher and finish the day with one of the many, many video games I own.

Thinking of all of these entertainment choices is amazing at first, but I’ve been looking at it all another way lately. I have literally hundreds of ways to spend my free time and somehow it feels like I am doing less in it.

When I was a kid I only had a small stack of music CDs, a few shows to watch and a handful of games on my Gameboy. Yet, I made that work and had a blast with my limited entertainment options. That Willenium album became my life soundtrack, waiting each week for a new episode of Power Rangers was thrilling and my copy of Donkey Kong was decimated by my skills.

The big difference between then and now is that I made the best with what I had. I couldn’t just hop onto Spotify or Youtube and find what I wanted right away, but what an amazing feeling when I did find it. That feeling hasn’t been felt in a while because I can get whatever tickles my fancy.

Endless choice seems to bring limited value.

It is obviously seen during the half an hour I spend browsing Netflix. There are HUNDREDS of things I would love to watch, but all of that choice makes each seem less special. I read amazing stories and forget about them the next day, all while only half-listening to a spectacular new album. I got halfway through a quest to save a princess, but quit that when a new game found its way into my Playstation 3.

Each choice in my entertainment life is hindered by the fact that it swims in a sea of other equally amazing choices.

This effect can be seen on social media as well. I am connected to every friend I’ve ever known, but that online communication is nothing compared to a phone call or a visit. We become satisfied with a less meaningful avenue of communication because of convenience.

An example that comes to mind is when my Mormon friends went on a mission outside of the country. They had no internet or phone service and had to communicate through letters in the mail.

Each letter was about the length of a few Facebook messages, but there was no better feeling than literally seeing the words written from my best friends after so long. It wasn’t convenient; it wasn’t fast. A form of communication that stands opposite of our modern times gave me more joy than a Facebook “Like” ever had.

Websites like Buzzfeed and Twitter provide a steady stream of content that is updated practically every minute. How much quality can be found in each post, and how much does each add to our lives?

My final thought on this topic brings me to my favorite hobby: food.

Think about it. We can have waffle tacos, a breakfast sandwich between a glazed donut and a KFC bowl filled with everything we want. . These are all imaginative (and sickening) creations that seem to fulfill our every fantasy. We now have the choice to eat a taco with a Doritos shell or a meal catered to bacon. Does that mean we should have them?