July 10, 2006

Too Many Choices=Misery

So New York magazine's cover story is all about the latest research on happiness. A lot of the data in the article was already known--married people, overall, are happier, so are people who are religious and church goers, but having young kids makes people less happy. Yawn.

But buried in the story is the nugget that lots of choices are making people really miserable, leading to self-doubt, angst, even depression.

NY mag played up the fact that New Yorkers live in a city that offers more of everything, speculating that's why people are more neurotic there. Well, a surplus of choices is what defines our entire American culture and the economy. Our supermarkets, department stores, our media, our banks, all offer endless choices. And it is driving us crazy.

I also think the article failed to explore how choices weigh heavily on parents, especially mothers. I truly believe one of the reasons why so many of us are unhappy is because of this gnawing sense that we've made the wrong choices. Whether we're working part-time, full time, from home, or taking time off to raise kids, we worry that we should have been doing something else.
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posted by pam at 2:21 PM

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