Comments on: Why Bother?

By: Dad

Dad — Sun, 15 May 2005 04:49:09 +0000

But the practicalties of life mean that we often have to measure our choices one step at a time. I actually understand what a million means (not because I am a millionaire, I’m not, but because I’m a geologist and we measure time rather differently from most people) but I doubt if most people can imagine the quantity of choice that exists “out there” and what is worse they don’t really want to understand anyway. Which is why you asked the question in the first place.

That being said, I am often intrigued by your linklog entries. I seem to have blinkers on when it comes to accessing the web whereas you find these often esoteric, wayout sites that I find interesting, informative and sometimes challenging. Why is it I can’t find them myself? Am I not surfing correctly? Do I rely on Google to the exclusion of a more random technique? Am I a slave to the commercial dictats of the web – buy this, research that, look for like-minded opinions, bla bla bla?

Perhaps we start with choice as it appears to be and then become confined by what the web wants us to see. But where this breaks down is when Google/name_your_search_engine “thinks” we are interested in a subject that we’re not. The double entendre can be quite interesting!

By: Pete Ashton

Pete Ashton — Sat, 14 May 2005 22:58:11 +0000

I should possibly have been clearer as you’ve both jumped onto a different point. I wasn’t really talking about the illusion of choice given by large corporations, more the ways to deal with actual REAL choice where you have to chose one of thousands or millions or, in the case of websites, billions. That strikes me as much more interesting.

By: Dad

Dad — Fri, 13 May 2005 17:20:31 +0000

And then, sometimes we don’t get the choice that’s available. Simple illustration: in Houston I could choose from about 8 different flavors of Carr’s Water Biscuits (crackers) in FiestaMart (ethnic grocery store catering to an international market). In Stratford-on-Avon Tesco I’m lucky to find the plain variety, never any of the other flavors. When I ask customer service they suggest I buy Tesco’s own brand (which isn’t the same thing).

The irony of this example is that Carr’s are made in Carlisle, England. You have to travel 5,000 miles to get the choice!

By: Dave C

Dave C — Fri, 13 May 2005 04:31:28 +0000

The illusion of choice, but not ‘real’ choice at all. Take all those different washing powders in the supermarket. Great, Mrs Consumer thinks, a huge choice of washing powders. But look closely at the packet, they are all made by either Lever Bros or Procter & Gamble.

And as the ownership of media becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer hands having 500 chanels is just an illusion of choice. The choice to not watch TV is something I came to quite late, but not something I regret. The chance to download the TV shows I want to, with the adverts stripped out, is also a good choice, but even that will become illusion soon as the shows and adverts blend together to stop us avoiding those oh so important corporate messages.

By: Dad

Dad — Thu, 12 May 2005 21:27:57 +0000

How interesting – I received an AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) newsletter today and in it is an article entitled “Fed up with too many choices?”

http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/yourlife/many_choices.html

The article struck a chord because it referred to the often daunting number of options available to the consumer for almost any purchasing decision and used the example of buying a cellular (mobile) phone. Having just been through that experience (it was incredibly daunting) I am leary of advocating too much choice in the market place.

That being said, if the choice didn’t exist, how would I feel? Probably that I was locked up in a communist cell where the party leaders would insist that the only option available was just right for me because they knew it to be so.

So, on balance I do like choice and I probably prefer lots of it rather than none at all. But the bottom line appears to be that I will more often than not shy away from buying things that require a great deal of selection effort and I will stick with the tried and true when it comes to replacing or upgrading. Which means that I may not be a good candidate for innovation.

Returning to your subject, one way I have reduced the problem of choice is to refuse to watch TV! But then we only have 4 channels to choose from in our house.