The way Aussies make decisions has changed forever

Life constantly seems to get faster and more complicated, and that’s having a big impact on how Australians make decisions. In fact, according to the Choosi Decision Making Report, nearly three-quarters (70.5%) of us feel like we have to make more decisions now because society has changed.

Here, we explore how decision-making has evolved for Aussies and find out whether more information is actually a good thing.

The factors that influence how we make decisions

You know that feeling when you’re scrolling through Netflix and you simply can’t decide on what to watch? That’s because you’re overloaded with choices, and it’s a real-life problem that most of us experience.

What you might not realise is that this problem is happening on a much broader scale. The Choosi report found that this “paradox of choice” (having way more choices than you know what to do with) has made it much harder to make decisions for 76.4% of Aussies.

But this hasn’t always been the case, and the biggest factor comes down to having an ever-increasing availability of information, not all of which is reliable.

How Aussies’ decision-making skills have changed over time

Because there’s so much more information available to us today than in previous decades, especially thanks to the internet, most Aussies (65%) are doing more research before making a decision compared to five years ago.

In terms of what we buy, this has made us much less loyal to brands, simply because there’s more availability of information and a greater variety of choice. For life in general, only 13.4% of us would strongly agree that having more choice has made our lives better.

Crises like COVID-19 can influence how we make decisions

Stress can have a huge impact on how we make decisions, especially when we’re dealing with something that’s out of our control like the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, Aussies tend to become much more ‘lazy’ in their decision-making when we have other things on our minds (14.8%) or are feeling tired or upset (16.8%).

Stress also affects decision-making differently depending on your generation, according to the Choosi report. For example, while Gen Z is super-stressed about career decisions (50.7%), it’s barely a blip on the radar for Baby Boomers (9.1%).

Is more information a good thing?

In the new age of ‘fake news’, more information doesn’t necessarily equal more genuine information. When we’re showered with so much data and so many more choices than we can handle, it actually has a negative effect on our lives.

According to the Choosi data, this paradox of choice is making Aussies’ lives more difficult (41.4%), more stressful (50.6%) and less happy (27.7%).

How men and women make decisions differently

But what about choices between men and women? Well, while it’s true that both men and women face similar decision-making struggles in their day-to-day lives, the hardest decisions they’ll ever have to make are drastically different.

Walking away from a toxic person/relationship was the hardest decision for more than a quarter of women (26.9%), compared to just 15.4% of men. Whereas 14.4% of men said they struggle with making career decisions, compared to only 9.3% of women.

The good news is that when it comes to making important decisions, such as finding the right insurance policy, Choosi can help make your choices easier. We compare a a variety of insurance products across a range of popular brands so you can select the best deal for you. Head to the Choosi homepage, enter in the type of insurance you’re considering and hit the “compare now” button. It’s that simple to get started!