Spotify and the paradox of choice
Six months ago, I deleted my Spotify account as part of my digital declutter to minimize digital noise. The result? Less skipping, more listening. Having access to millions of songs on Spotify led me to excessively skip songs in the pursuit of finding the perfect song; but rarely satisfied with what I picked anyway. I felt I could no longer enjoy a song or an album in its entirety— an increasingly rare but delightful experience I enjoy indulging in. Spotify was robbing me of the satisfaction of enjoying music. I’m not alone in this, and Spotify isn’t the only offender either; Netflix and Tinder are also some of the other popular platforms providing abundance without much satisfaction. What can explain such phenomenon?