The Paradox of Choice: Why More Choices Do Not Give Us The Freedom We Wanted

I thought if I had those (jobs, gadgets, fame, vacations, money, cars, etc), I’d be happy and free.

I thought having more options made me happier.

I had never been so wrong.

One of the central tenets of Western societies is freedom.

Freedom means power.

People want power.

Freedom gives us a sense of control over things we want out of life so no one has to decide.

Freedom is often associated with choice.

The more choices we have, the more we feel free to do whatever we want.

The modern world has spoiled us with an abundance of choices.

We became freer than we ever were some years ago.

We no longer face danger when looking for food like our ancestors did.

We no longer need to cook some food to eat; we order it through an app.

We no longer need to write newspapers to read some news; it is now available on-demand on our phones.

We no longer need to walk from point A to point B; we order an Uber from our phone to go there fast.

We no longer need to go to shopping malls; we shop through our apps easily with abundant choices.

We no longer need to work the same job for the rest of our lives; we can leave jobs we hate and choose what we like.

We feel more power than ever. We have become freer than ever.

But, is it, really?

Or, at least, we thought we had those.

We thought we could change the direction of our lives to whatever we wanted.

But the fact tells us otherwise.

We are indeed free to do whatever we want now, but we end up choosing options that are normal according to the trend and norm.

Why?

Humans have a tendency to follow what major people are doing.

That’s why we will never be truly free.

Now, it’s time to reflect.

Of the decisions we made for the last 10 years, was it truly us, or did we follow the trend and norm society told us to do?

Ask yourself, why did you buy those bags?

Why did you buy the phone you are holding in your hand now?

Why did you choose that job? Was it you, or is it the job that’s trendy now? Or society told you to do it?