One of the most characteristic aspects of modern life is an abundance of choice. Every day, we decide where we go, what we eat, what we watch, who we spend time with, and how we dress. In theory, freedom to choose is a pleasant thing: it allows us to shape our lives, be what we like, and construct our selves. But as thinkers and psychologists explained so many years earlier, more choice is not necessarily more freedom. It might instead create a feeling of anxiety, constraint, and unhappiness that somehow is slave-like.
The teen crisis of decision is particularly tangible. The unlimited options in school, social life, recreation, and failure to define self can be energizing and paralyzing. The adolescent deciding which university to attend, which career to pursue, or with what social group to associate is exercising freedom, but the burden can be crushing. Each choice has a consequence, and each choice not taken or excluded is felt as a deprivation. This is tension between the two-sidedness of freedom: the more freedom, the more need to choose, usually in the absence of certainty. Freedom has been debated by philosophers down the centuries.
Is freedom the lack of external constraint, or is it the ability for acting wisely and intentionally? The irony is that freedom, as an intellectual ideal, involves responsibility. When options are few, the decision is simpler and result more predictable. When there are an infinite number of options, any decision can potentially be wrong, and the need to decide “right” becomes an oppressive burden. So the very liberty that is meant to set us free can also exact a kind of unobtrusive psychological bondage. Psychologist Barry Schwartz has famously studied this phenomenon in his book about “the paradox of choice.” A certain level of choice is necessary for autonomy and fulfillment in his eyes, but excessive choice leads to regret, worry, and self-blame.
The moment we start reflecting on all of those roads not taken, opportunities relinquished, or perfection that could have been, satisfaction starts to decrease. Even where you have good choices, you are reminded of the other million choices where you are left incomplete or uncertain. This paradox does not simply manifest in individual choices but also in social and cultural systems.
Consumer society makes more choices into better lives: more stuff, more action, more lifestyles to try. But with each choice is some implicit judgment: if you choose this, you forego that. Social media contributes to the impact, with endless comparisons and possibility for what life “could be.” The more liberty we’re pressured towards, the more responsible we are, the more tied we are to our own choices. Resolving the paradox of choice does not involve relinquishing freedom. Rather, it involves figuring out how to exercise discernment, intentionality, and acceptance. Mindfully limiting choices, having individual values, and establishing priorities, or what matters most, can transform liberty from burden to strength. Realizing there is no perfect choice enables us to choose meaningfully, relish the path we travel, and release fear of not-taken roads.
Liberty is ultimately both empowering and exacting.
Tyranny of choice reminds us that freedom is not the capacity to choose but learning to make a good choice. Adolescents most of all must be taught that: applying boundaries and accountability of choice can prevent paralysis and discontent. Freedom as a process of growth and not the cause of enslavement is enabled by accepting thoughtful choice-making, values thinking, and embracing imperfection. Philosophically, the paradox of choice reverses the notion that more choices lead to better lives and induces a higher level of awareness of what freedom is.