A number of recent books and articles have noted the explosion of choices that we face in many facets of our lives. Consider the following examples:

• In 2010, the average American supermarket carried 48,750 items, more than five times the number of items in 1975.
• Britain's multinational superstore Tesco stocks 91 different shampoos, 93 varieties of toothpaste, and 115 household cleaners.
• Tropicana turns out more than twenty varieties of freshly pulped juice.
• Wal-Mart and other "big box" retailers provide a smorgasbord of over 100,000 different types of consumer goods.
• Netflix allows access to over 100,000 DVD's and Amazon offers over 24 million book titles.

An article in The Economist also described this overload of choices:

Lattes come in tall, short, skinny, decaf, flavored, iced, spiced, and frappe. Jeans come flared, bootlegged, skinny, cropped, straight, low-rise, bleach-rinsed, dark-washed or distressed. Moisturizer nourishes, lifts, smoothes, revitalizes, conditions, firms, refreshes, and rejuvenates …. Faces, noses, wrinkles, breasts and bellies can be remodeled, plumped, or tucked …. Teenagers can choose to surf, chat, tweet, zap or poke in ways that their parents can barely fathom. Moving pictures and music can be viewed, recorded, downloaded or streamed on all manner of screens or devices …. In many countries couples can decide whether and where to marry, cohabit, divorce, or remarry. Internet dating promises to find a match from a database of potential partners. Women in the rich world can choose when, and whether, to reproduce.

While some of these choices have improved our lives, researchers also argue that the availability of too many choices causes anxiety, stress, and overload. A 2010 study by researchers at the University of Bristol found that 47 percent of respondents thought life was more confusing than it was ten years ago, and 42 percent reported lying awake at night trying to resolve problems. In her book Choice, Renata Salecl asks, "How is it that … this increase in choice, through which we can supposedly customize our lives and make them perfect, leads not to more satisfaction but rather to greater anxiety, and greater feelings of inadequacy and guilt?" And in his book The Paradox of Choice researcher Barry Schwartz claims we've reached the point where "choice no longer liberates, but debilitates. It might even be said to tyrannize."