Happiness in a Choice

The long tail is both a blessing and a curse for someone who works in media. On one hand, there are more opportunities for just about anytime to jump into the pool and find success. On the other hand, there’s endless amounts of competition, and media has to offer a unique product to do well. But for a consumer, the long tail doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of negatives. The endless possibilities offered online seems better than the limitations offered by media that has to take up some amount of physical space. The appeal of the long tail comes from the great quantity of choices a consumer has. The idea is essentially that, the more choices a consumer has, the more perfect a choice he or she can make.  

This plethora of choice reminded me of this TED talk. In it, psycho-economist Sheena Iyengar, who studies choice, discusses her research on choice in different countries: the United States, Japan, Eastern Europe and France. She says that the idea of more choice always being a good thing is not an idea that resonates across all cultures. Even for Americans, more choice does not always correlate with more happiness.

This idea, that more choice is better, goes hand-in-hand with the long tail. Many people think that the limitless choice of media offered by the long tail is a good thing. We’ve discussed in class some of the impacts of increased media surplus — such as shortening attention span and less boredom — but what about the impact on our happiness? Do we feel better when we can scroll through endless movies and TV shows offered by Netflix, then when we can stroll through a few aisles of a local Blockbuster?

For me as a consumer, I do think the long tail has had an overall positive impact. Netflix has improved the quality of television through competition, and I never have to worry about a DVD being scratched up. Sometimes, though, I still can’t decide what to watch.