Back in 1964, media theorist Marshall McLuhan wrote Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. And in that book, McLuhan wrote, "a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence," the idea being that at night, we're left in the dark. With a single light bulb, a whole new world appears.
The Internet is a light bulb that makes an entire galaxy of opportunities visible. If someone from 1964 saw the things we can do now, they'd smash every light bulb they could find over their heads. You can call or text anyone you know. You can buy just about anything you want and ship it to your home in days. You can force strangers to drive you places, and play Mortal Kombat with your friends in Vietnam. You, reading this, can even send the President of the United States a public, formal request to suck your dick (whether or not you have one).
We're monkeys with superpowers at our fingertips. We are gods with this technology.
And yet, we still can't choose a fuckin’ movie to watch on Netflix in less than five minutes.
We'll read a dozen show summaries and watch at least 18 minutes of trailers before we throw our snacks in the air and fire up another episode of something we've seen plenty of times already, like The Office or Parks and Rec.
Author Barry Schwartz calls this the paradox of choice. As human beings we love choice. The more, the better. Except no. It's not.
With too much choice, people freeze up. Where too few choices meant we had to make the best of a world with annoying limits, too many options means it's entirely your fault if you choose something the slightest bit boring.
And you will, and it kills you. Because the other mindfuck of this wide world of choices is that our brains can easily imagine a better option. You can watch a slightly above-average movie and imagine the possibility of choosing a slightly better movie and having a slightly better time. And so you go to bed feeling like a failure, laying there dreading the day where you'll have to look at Netflix again, anxiously squeezing the bridge of your nose, hoping someone else will have the courage to pick something quickly.
The Internet has given us so much it gave us anxiety too. Who would have thought Pandora's Box would be so stupid?
Some people are calling us Generation Anxious. There was a whole other generation a bit before us that fought a WORLD FUCKING WAR and we're anxious about choosing from our infinite library of entertainment.
The even more confusing thought is they might be right. Anxiety bleeds into everything. Like the light bulb, the Internet made this whole new world. Where the grocery store has an entire aisle FILLED with cereal, and another aisle with more than one kind of plastic cup. Where you can use your finger to instantly judge the attractiveness of tons of people in your area. Where it is perfectly acceptable to look down at your phone and text someone while you're in a conversation with another human being right in front of you!
What can we do? The fact of the matter is we're stuck with this environment. With infinite choice comes infinite responsibility.
What helps is remembering that you don’t know until you know. There is no end to the amount of data you can take in and there is no perfect choice. When it comes down to it, you need to take a deep breathe and go. Own your decision, good or bad, because there is always tomorrow and another chance to decide.