Why Too Many Choices May Not Be the Best Choice

In the next six months, I’ll have to select and apply to my top choices from among the nearly 4000 colleges and universities in the U.S. As if this wasn’t challenging enough, I must also choose from thousands of fields of study. And I have more immediate decisions to make, too: what to listen to on Spotify (roughly 100 million tracks); what cereal to buy (thousands line grocery shelves); and what piano selections (spanning centuries) to play for my spring concert. I’m not alone. Young adults like me face an overwhelming number of choices—an estimated 35,000 per day. Some of those decisions are admittedly mundane, but some are consequential and likely to impact the direction of our lives.

According to researchers, the strain of constant decision-making has real consequences. The trick to thriving, experts say, is to incorporate strategies to keep us moving forward, thereby setting us up for success and happiness—now and in the future. But how do we quiet the incessant “Pick me!” that we carry with us morning to night?

For me, it was helpful to learn that my struggle with making choices had a name: choice overload. The term appeared in an article I found quite by accident but related to immediately. Choice overload is described as the overwhelming feeling we experience when faced with too many options, making it harder to decide and leaving us more prone to inaction, doubt, regret, and dissatisfaction. According to the experts—and the weight on my chest—there really is such a thing as too many choices.

And yet, a world with endless choices sounds pretty great, right? In fact, we tend to equate more choices with more freedom. As psychologist and author Barry Schwartz describes in his TED Talk “The Paradox of Choice,” an abundance of options makes us believe we can maximize happiness and better express ourselves. But anyone who has spent an hour trying to pick out something new on Netflix—only to give up and watch something they’ve seen a hundred times—knows that too many choices can be overwhelming. As I recently learned, life with so much “freedom” can actually be counterproductive.

Consider the classic experiment from 2000, in which researchers set up two jam displays in a grocery store. One presented 24 varieties of jam, while the second offered only six. While shoppers were more likely to stop and browse the display with more varieties, the display with fewer ones resulted in more purchases. Why did buyers pass over a bigger display, only to purchase from a smaller one? Scientists use the term “decision fatigue” to explain this phenomenon. In short, our brains have a finite capacity for making decisions, and every additional choice drains that energy. An article published in Business Insider suggests that people are most comfortable when offered 8 to 15 options. Beyond that, the mental cost of evaluating and comparing choices begins to outweigh any potential reward. Guess what? The same holds true in making life decisions. On Netflix—as in life—sometimes we decide not to decide.

The fact is, our generation has normalized the habit of putting off making decisions. Consider the popularity of taking a “gap year” between high school and college. Why is this decision so attractive? Well, for twelve months, teens can avoid committing to a college or career path. This same pattern is evident in our romantic relationships. With dating apps, young adults have seemingly unlimited options for finding love. And some do. But for the rest of us, having too many options has a negative effect. Schwartz insists that an abundance of choices can trigger a tendency to fixate on what might have been if a different decision had been made. This means that in the search for a romantic partner, we’re more likely to make comparisons and hyperfixate on minor flaws. Such a mindset gives rise to the belief that finding a life partner—like making any big life decision—is just “too hard.” As a result, we often find ourselves delaying or even avoiding milestones such as commitment, marriage, and life pursuits.

Beyond decision paralysis and procrastination are other, perhaps more concerning, consequences of too many choices. Self-doubt and regret are common experiences among youth facing countless choices. Should I have chosen that other school? That other piano piece? Sadly, these emotions effectively steal from our overall satisfaction with decisions made and, ultimately, rob us of happiness. As Schwartz states, “The more options there are, the easier it is to regret anything at all that is disappointing about the option that you chose.” Could this explain why so many young adults frequently move from place to place, job to job, relationship to relationship? When we live in the world of “what if,” we cease to be present or grateful in our own lives. The belief that the “grass is always greener” in a different decision steals enjoyment from the moment.

How do we avoid the downside of living with an overwhelming number of options? We aren’t the first generation to face choice overload, and there are some strategies we can glean from the experts. In our day-to-day lives, for example, the pressure of constant decision-making may be alleviated by reducing mental clutter. What does that mean? For starters, it means prioritizing decisions and activities. If everything in our lives carries equal importance, then we’re less likely to progress toward our goals. When we take time to decide what most needs our attention, we can weigh the pros and cons and arrive at decisions we feel confident about. Talking to a trusted friend is another helpful way to tackle decision-making, as are journaling and setting hard deadlines for decisions. For the procrastinator, setting aside a day and time to plan for the week is a great way to identify what’s important and to protect our days from being overtaken by all the demands that quickly derail us. 

But when it comes to making big life choices, we need to know more than good coping habits—we need to know ourselves. This strategy will take a little more thought, beginning with identifying our values. What is important for my long-term happiness? What brings meaning to my life? What are my priorities, or my most immediate goals? Once we are clear on what we want, it’s important to take time to name the voices that seem, at times, to outshout our own. Who has the loudest voice in my life? Am I doing or pursuing something because it’s expected, or because I genuinely love it? Who do I want to become? Only when we can answer such important questions can we really know ourselves. This self-knowledge gives us the power to filter out the voices around us in order to align with our authentic selves. For young adults like me, this might mean choosing a vocation that reflects passion over prestige. In their research article on motivation, educators Idit Katz and Avi Assor made the following note: “When choice was offered in a way that met the needs of the students, it was found to enhance motivation, learning, and well-being.”

In a society that equates choice with freedom, it’s easy to overlook the downside of having too many options. The paradox of choice teaches us that more is not always better. Strategies for gaining mental clarity and identifying our core values can go a long way toward overcoming choice overload. When we are mindful of our authentic selves, we are better able to make decisions that lead to a more intentional, fulfilling, and regret-free life.

As author John C. Maxwell famously put it, “Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.”

WORKS CITED:

Dodgson, Lindsay. “Why You Find It Hard to Pick Your Lunch or a Netflix Show, According to New Research.” Business Insider, 7 Oct. 2018, www.businessinsider.com/why-too-much-choice-is-bad-2018-10.

Katz, Idit, and Avi Assor. “When Choice Motivates and When It Does Not.” Educational Psychology Review, vol. 19, no. 4, Aug. 2006, pp. 429–42, doi:10.1007/s10648-006-9027-y.\

Krockow, Eva M., PhD. “The Number of Choices Is Hard to Estimate, but It’s Higher Than You’d Expect.” Psychology Today, 27 Sept. 2018, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/stretching-theory/201809/how-many-decisions-do-we-make-each-day.

Krockow, Eva M., PhD. “Too Many Choices Can Leave You Dissatisfied and Disappointed.” Psychology Today, 9 Oct. 2018, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/stretching-theory/201810/too-much-choice.

Misuraca, Raffaella, et al. “On The Advantages and Disadvantages of Choice: Future Research Directions in Choice Overload and Its Moderators.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 15, May 2024, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1290359.

Schwartz, Barry, et al. Doing Better but Feeling Worse: The Paradox of Choice. bschwartz.domains.swarthmore.edu/Choice%20Chapter.Revised.pdf.

“The Paradox of Choice.” TED Talks, ww.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_the_paradox_of_choice.