Do we have too much choice?

A friend once visited me from England. We went to a supermarket, I can't imagine why. Anyway, he was absolutely shocked at the number of choices we have for any particular food. The cereal isle made a big impression. He couldn't believe there was an entire row the length of the supermarket devoted exclusively to cereal; same for soda and snacks. He said that when he goes to the store, there's choice but maybe 10-12 choices of some things and even less of others.

I think we have too many choices to make. I know I do. There's a ton of stores out there competing for our business. They all sell pretty much the same things, but they may carry different brands, different rebates, different guarantees, etc. But seriously, how many mattress stores do we need?

Is variety a luxury?  I think so. Can we afford the environmental costs? Probably not. Does an excess of everything create jobs? Good question but I don't really know. It's all very confusing to me. What happens to prices when there are fewer manufactures and services?

And religion. Oh My God! There's no end to what flavor of woo woo you can buy into. Although to be fair, I suppose a lot of people take on the religion of their parents. No choice made there.

You can be a vegetarian (or not), believe in astrology (or not), go to college (or not), be a miser or a spendthrift, or make a thousand other choices about the way you see life, act in public, exercise your myriad of personal preferences; the list of choices seems endless. At least to me.

All those choices involve a lot of questions. I hate questions. I don't like answering questions. I'm not too keen on a lot of choice. Just give me a couple of suggestions and I'll take it from there. Why ask me if I want to do one of 10 different leisure activities or choose a restaurant out of 4 suggestions? Ugh.

I should get a decision making app for my iPhone. I'll bet there IS one. When confronted with the previously mentioned choices listed above, I suppose I could just always pick the first choice and be done with it.

But I can't make up my mind.