Little Boxes of Decision Avoidance

The New Yorker:

Life would be easier if everything you needed were sent to you in a box. A few months ago, I subscribed to Quinciple, a service that sends me a box of groceries once a week, which I pick up at a store a few blocks from my apartment. It saves me a little time and maybe a little money—but, mostly, it spares me from the so-called paradox of choice, or the paralysis that comes with having too many options while shopping. I have wasted hours of my life reading the fine print on cereal boxes, lipstick boxes, and sneaker boxes. I am forever looking for a reason to choose one loaf of bread or one brand of shampoo over countless others. (There is often no reason.) Once, I went to a grocery store to buy a soda and walked out, empty-handed, fifteen minutes later. Somewhere between the caffeine-free Diet Cherry Coke and the sixth flavor of seltzer, I forgot why I was even there at all.

Read the whole story: The New Yorker