top of page

Too Many Choices: The Mental Toll of Decision Fatigue in a Digital World

Click, scroll, repeat. It sounds harmless, even mindless. But behind that routine lies a modern epidemic: decision fatigue. In the past, decision-making was reserved for things that truly mattered - should I take that job, move cities, or marry this person? Today, we make hundreds, if not thousands, of micro-decisions before lunchtime. What to wear, what to eat, which message to reply to first, which tab to close, whether to check a notification now or later. Add to that the digital world’s never-ending buffet of choices - what show to binge, which filter to use, what headline to click - and suddenly, our brains are drowning in decision overload. We are exhausted not just by doing, but by deciding. And we rarely realise just how much it’s costing us.


ree

Unlike physical fatigue, decision fatigue doesn’t announce itself with sore muscles or yawns. It’s subtler and sneakier. You feel it as irritability when choosing dinner seems like a Herculean task. It shows up as procrastination when you can’t decide which email to reply to first, so you reply to none. It creeps into your mood when you spend an hour scrolling on Netflix only to watch nothing and go to bed frustrated. The real kicker is that it often masquerades as laziness or poor time management, when in fact, it’s just your brain waving a tiny white flag saying: “I’ve had enough.”


The internet has sold us the dream of infinite choice. Want to buy a toothbrush? You’ll find 200 types with different bristles, colours, ergonomic grips, and AI-enabled sensors. Looking for a suit? Get ready to scroll through 47 pages of options, all with varying discounts, reviews, and size charts. What started as empowerment - the freedom to choose - has quietly turned into a cognitive trap. Every click, every scroll, every swipe is a decision, and the toll adds up fast.


What’s particularly insidious is how quickly we normalise it. We live under the illusion that we’re just “keeping up” or being productive when we’re actually stuck in loops of indecision. The simple act of choosing lunch can spiral into a 20-minute search for the ‘healthiest’ or ‘most value-for-money’ option. This desire to always optimise - to get the best deal, make the smartest purchase, post the most liked photo - doesn’t just slow us down. It wears us down. And for people already prone to anxiety, perfectionism, or self-doubt, the impact can be especially harsh. Every choice becomes a referendum on your worth, your intelligence, your success.


This isn’t just about big life decisions. It’s about the hundreds of invisible ones we make every day. Should I respond to this text now or later? Should I save this reel or send it to someone? Should I write that post or wait for a better time? Each question, on its own, seems trivial. But together, they build a mental stormcloud. Over time, we start to feel perpetually behind. Perpetually unsure. Perpetually dissatisfied. Even when we “do everything right,” it doesn’t feel like enough, because there was always a different, possibly better choice we could have made.


There’s also an emotional tax to this. Decision fatigue often leads to guilt and self-criticism. We berate ourselves for wasting time, for making poor choices, for not being more decisive. But rarely do we pause to ask: how much is too much? How much choice is too much freedom? How many decisions can a human mind reasonably make in a day before it starts to crumble under the weight? The scariest part is that the systems around us are designed to keep us in this loop. Social media, e-commerce platforms, streaming services - they all thrive on our indecision. The more time you spend scrolling, the more ads you see. The longer it takes you to choose, the more data you provide. It’s not a bug; it’s the business model. Your fatigue is someone else’s profit.


So where do we go from here? The answer isn’t to eliminate choice entirely. That’s neither practical nor desirable. But we can begin to make room for choice consciously. We can start to recognise when we’re making decisions on autopilot and when we’re spiraling. Simple changes can help. Wearing the same types of outfits to reduce wardrobe stress. Pre-deciding meals for the week. Setting fixed times for checking notifications instead of being always available. Having ‘tech-free’ windows where no decisions are made - just rest, reflection, or silence.


Most importantly, we need to let go of the illusion that every decision must be optimal. The pressure to make the “perfect” choice is a trap. Sometimes, “good enough” is not only good - it’s life-saving. Choosing the okay movie, the decent lunch, the average product frees up mental space for the decisions that actually matter: how to show up in your relationships, how to spend your energy, how to be kind to yourself in a world that constantly asks for more.


Decision fatigue is real. It’s not a personal failure but a systemic pressure we’ve come to accept as normal. And the first step to reclaiming our mental bandwidth is simply this: to notice. Notice the toll it’s taking. Notice the moments when choice becomes a burden, not a gift. And remind yourself that in a world built to keep you constantly choosing, sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to pause - and choose to do nothing at all.


Written by: Yash Mehrotra



October, 2025

 
 
bottom of page