The Tyranny of Choice

A friend, we'll call her R once said "happiness is when you know what you want and you go for it." She's wise.

Apparently, Barry Schwartz author of "The Tyranny of Choice" (www.sciam.com - April 2004 issue) agrees. According to research done by Robert E. Lane of Yale University, increased choice and affluence have a direct correlation to decreased well-being or happiness. So basically, the more we have to choose from, the harder it is to be content with the choice we have, thus increasing unhappiness. The solution? Pick your battles and learn to forgo opportunity costs as just that, an opportunity cost. Hmph, easier said than done.

As I sat in my world globalization class listening to the clinical psychologist my professor brought in for this very topic, I wandered off to my usual state of daydreaming. Was I too a product of this addiction to consumerism so prevalent in our society that massive amounts of research were now being administered? I'd like to think--no way but, the unfortunate reality is yes. Case in point--after a considerable amount of time wasting away in class daydreaming, I came to the conclusion I'd return to my life as a blogger. Now the most pressing question--LiveJournal or Blogspot or one of the other gazillion options out there? Why is it I actually wasted my time considering my different options--is it so hard to just pick a blog? Obviously, I did...but not without wasting time which could have been far more productive elsewhere. Did I seriously just actually contemplate this??

It's interesting in dealing with college age people, that nearly every person I encounter is on a quest for happiness. Somehow every individual's methodology in achieving this state of mind or state in life is unique, yet everyone ultimately works for the same thing. Time and time again though, a consistent pattern of happiness is found with those who perform "voluntary simplicity" or adaptive resourcefulness yet time and time again people chase happiness in material substenance. Props to those marketers who've shaped a society full of industrialized children and consumerism to the max.

I suppose as I write this I really have no point other than this article hit me, probably more so than a majority of my classmates. We justify ourselves with the immunity that we'll never be products of this system yet we somehow are. So I guess now, the choice is--what do we do about it?

On a completely different note, we watched "We Were Soldiers" for my history class today. Just a side note--if you're breaking for iftar and have a weak stomach--I reallllyyyy don't advise watching this movie. While it was gory and definitely had its macho manly appeal of blood, fighting and war-this movie was also one of the most impacting movies I've watched lately. I won't spend too much time going into the details about this since I would advise if you are in the mood for a thought provoking movie you should definitely see this I will say I can see why the reward for Jihad is so immense. It was also interesting to see the wife of an army man's struggle and in a sense dealing with jihad of her own. Ok enough of my babbling...

So as my cousin just asked--why exactly am I writing here when I have a 5 page paper due this week? I'm not sure but that's my cue to head out. Maybe just maybe the choice for my research topic will be done with slightly more ease....maybe.