With internet, choice has exploded. Can we afford it?

“There is this new coffee brew I have got,” she said. “You want to try that?”

“All experiments are to be carried out on me?” I asked.

“Of course.”

As she disappeared into the kitchen, I stood by the window, looking at buses driving into the bus depot opposite the building. In Mumbai, this was a room with a view.

Five minutes later, after she had got me a cup of coffee, her phone beeped.

“What’s it?” I asked.

“Oh. My bank account has just been hit for the monthly debit for the video streaming service that I subscribe to.”

“Hmmm. But when do you watch it?”

“Well. That’s the thing. There are such great shows on it. But by the time I get back from office, I am so tired that I would rather eat and go to sleep, than watch anything.”

“Yeah. I guess, entertainment these days also needs a certain level of mental involvement, else we would all be watching Hindi movies made in the 1980s.”

“True that. The thing is this is not the only video streaming service that I subscribe to.”

“Oh, there is another one?”

“Yes. The other service also has some very good shows. So, I have that as well. And I manage to watch a few shows over the weekend.”

“Hmmm. And I see you haven’t given up on your DTH connection.”

“Actually I had given up on that and then I realised that when it comes to watching live sports, the streaming services still need to catch up.”

“Yes. I agree with you on that. Also, there is a slight delay in the streaming broadcast in comparison to what you get to see on DTH TV.”

“Plus, there is the danger of the internet connection conking off. I did not want to take that risk for the India-England cricket test series and got a DTH connection.”

“Oops. Now that would have hurt.”

“It did. It did,” she replied, given that India had lost both the test matches. 

“These are the perils of the too much choice that we have these days. There is only so much time, and everything that we need to do, has to be done in that time.”

“Yes.”

“But we human beings like the idea of infinite choice, even though we may not be in a position or have the time to, exercise it.”

“Getting philosophical, are we?”

“As a cynic once put it, capitalism is about getting people to buy things they don’t need, using money that they don’t have.”

“Ha ha ha,” she laughed loudly. “That was really funny.” 

“To be very honest,” I said, “I have a similar problem.”

“Really?.” 

“So, in the good old days, I used to go to book shops and buy books.”

“Yes.”

“And even the best bookshops had a limited number of titles.”

“Yup.”

“The point being that come what may, there were only so many books you could buy, given the limited number of books that bookshops had.”

“I see where you are going with this.”

“And then came a day, one could simply order books through websites on the internet.”

“Yes.”

“And then the whole world became my playground.”

“Ha ha.”

“Indeed. On the internet one had access to a wider variety of books than bookstores. Plus, one could buy books not available in India, but available internationally.”

“So true.”

“Earlier, you came across only a given number of books that you wanted to read. Now with the internet the choice has simply exploded. And given that I simply keep buying books all the time.”

“And there is only so much time to read!” she said.

“Yes,” I replied, “ and which is why there are so many books lying around unread.”

“Like how many?”

“At least, 200-250 books.”

“That’s a huge number.”

“Yes, if I stop buying books right now, I will have books to read at least for the next four years.”

“That’s the cost of choice V,” she said. “But we can afford it.” 

(The example is hypothetical) 
Vivek Kaul is the author of the Easy Money trilogy.