[In] the world we used to live in... there were some choices, but not everything was a matter of choice, and the world we now live in looks like [The… - Barry Schwartz

There was a time when I was a boy when you could get any kind of telephone service you wanted as long as it came from Ma Bell. You rented your phone, you didn't buy it. Once consequence of that... is that the phone never broke.

[C]hoice in many facets of our life has gone from implicit and often psychologically unreal to explicit and psychologically very real.

A large array of options may discourage customers because it forces an increase in the effort that goes into making the decision. ...[T]hinking about the attractions of some of the unchosen options detracts from the pleasure derived from the chosen one.