paradoxofchoice



According to the Alliance for Childhood, the overwhelming amount of advertising through media in conjunction with the increasing amount of time children spend consuming that media has been linked to depression. By vastly increasing the amount of product children are exposed to, this phenomena called the "paradox of choice", creates an overwhelming sense of need in children that is difficult to satisfy. This lack of satisfaction and a resulting inability to distinguish between wants and needs leads many children to depression. "Children now spend more time engaged with electronic media than in almost any other activity. Now there is evidence that the constant stimulation of desire and creation of needs may actually be making children unhappy, even when they have the money to indulge in the products being sold. Barry Schwartz, professor of social theory and social action at Swarthmore College, writes of the '**paradox of choice**.' He suggests that increases in childhood and adolescent depression reflect, in part, the unhappiness that the excess of marketing and consumer choices is breeding in our young. Suicide, he notes, is at much higher levels among American college students than it was 35 years ago." (p. 28)