It was the end of a pleasant summer evening and I rang the doorbell with a few Chimay beers from the night shop at Ray’s, a good friend of mine. It was getting dark and I thought it would be nice to drop by unexpectedly. Ray opened the door, he was of course happy to see me and took a seat at the dining room table. On the other side sat Mark, who was also visiting Ray. Between them was a portable record player from the seventies, right under a retro lamp. In front of Mark on the table was a pile of LPs, which he had brought from home and Ray also had a selection of vinyl in front of him. Music from bygone years, new music and collectables blared from the speakers.
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Both Ray and Mark have unlimited Spotify. Their stereos have a Philips device with Bluetooth. They have the latest tunisia phone number library iPhones with which they can play unlimited music. They have the latest gadgets in their homes. You might therefore wonder what they are playing at the dining table.
I didn’t ask them. Because I see it
I see attention. Real attention. Attention to the music and everything around it. The covers get attention and the record player gets attention. This is not ear candy, it’s all senses focused on the music.
What Ray and Mark do is go back in time a bit. Away from all the unnecessary stimuli, using old technology. With today’s technology this is hardly possible anymore. Choice stress and too many stimuli eat up our attention.
The large selection online leads to choice stress
The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less is a 2003 book by psychologist Barry Schwartz. In it, he explains that companies that make twenty-four types of jam sell less than those that offer only six. Why? Because too many options can be paralyzing. Some people even switch to making no choice. So no purchase.
The internet is one big digital choice stress network. It seems as infinite as the universe. You can’t think of anything or search engine optimization united states america it is offered. Take eBay. To stay with music for a moment, where on earth do I start looking when I want to buy a new CD or LP? Take Spotify. I always have trouble choosing which music to smk e-report application versionplay. The selection is so big that I am paralyzed by the possibilities.
Our attention is at the expense of the large supply.
