Sunday, November 15, 2015

Less Choices, Better life

When given limitless choices, people end up making better decisions, however it results in a lower level of utility.

This is an obscure idea to grasp at first. How could I be better off with less options? We live in a world where we are forced to make thousands of decisions every day, some being unfavorable. Wouldn't it be better if I had more options? This was my opinion before reading this book, but when examining the idea on my own, I can see how a surplus of options can be a bad thing.

Image result for sex love and rock and rollImage result for portable cd player fm radioImage result for ramones mania
Take music for example, my generation has seen a huge technology shift over the past ten years. In elementary school, I got a portable CD player for christmas and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I could now listen to my Ramones and Social Distortion CD's on the bus to school!!! (I was a weird kid) When I got tired of the same tracks over and over again, I could just pop over to the radio. I was incredibly happy with what seemed like limitless options. 

Image result for zuneFast-forward to when middle school rolled around and I got a Zune, yes a Zune, and from there I could simply download songs on my parents computer and my options increased tremendously from there. I explored new music because now it was available online and as I added more and more music, my storage shrank at the same rate. I reached a point where I could no longer add songs. I got frustrated trying to decide what albums I had to erase and which ones to add. Although I had thousands of more options, I found myself less happy with my Zune as I was with my simple little CD player.


The iPod touch really changed the game because iTunes was much more user friendly than Zune software. It actually ended up having less storage capabilities because of all the apps and games I had downloaded and defeated the purpose of why I got it, to play music. Once again I was less satisfied with my iPod than I was with my CD player.

And then high school came smartphones were the way of the future. Internet streaming services and internet radio dominated my time. This was the first time that I truly had a limitless amount of options for music. I could listen to anything whenever and wherever I wanted. I quickly ditched iTunes and only had Spotify and Pandora apps. These two services are what I still use today. Going back to the central idea of this blog, Spotify gives you the freedom to make any limitless decision on what to listen to. I can pick my songs but often I spend valuable study time trying to decide and results in extended hours in the library. Pandora on the other hand gives you the option to pick a station, list your preferences and then makes all the decisions for you from there. This is why I now only listen to Pandora when I study. I never waste time picking a song because I can't, as a result I do better school work, I spend less time and I get better grades.

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Like the book suggested, I limit my options in many aspects of life to save time and make myself happier. Although I like having the power to make my own decisions, I can recognize that at times i'm far happier when I don't give myself those options. 














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