Backpack Decisions
Backpack Decisions
[Cueball stands in front of a store display with 17 backpacks and a couple of boxes on the shelf. He has pulled two backpacks down, and they sit at his feet along with a messenger bag (or satchel) behind him. He thinks to himself:] It's down to two: the one with the charger pocket and the one with— Wait, that other one is waterproof! Ugh. Do I even want a backpack? Maybe I should be looking at messenger bags again. OK, starting over.
[Caption below the comic:] Amount of time I’ve spent paralyzed by indecision over choosing the right… [A bar graph is shown. Each label is followed by a black bar representing the amount of time:] College [short bar that is 40 pixels wide] Phone [short bar that is 26 pixels wide] Apartment [short bar that is 33 pixels wide] Car [shortest bar, 20 pixels wide] Laptop [second longest bar, 46 pixels wide] Backpack [longest bar, 202 pixels wide]
Previous comics explained that decision paralysis might happen because there are detailed reviews online for the items (in 1036: Reviews ), you have very similar options and unlimited internet access (in 1801: Decision Paralysis ), or just that you're a nerd (in 309: Shopping Teams ).

Cueball , probably representing Randall , is having issues choosing a good backpack. He notices their different features and is indecisive. After presumably spending a long time choosing, he is able to narrow his choices down to two backpacks, only to discover that another backpack had the extra feature of being waterproof, a criterion he had not up to then been accounting for. This has made him more indecisive. Frustrated by the extra information load, he considers giving up on backpacks to take another look at messenger bags. Disregarding that thought, he decides to start over, evaluating all of the backpacks again considering the new information. Clearly he is spending a lot of time on this, and the chart below shows that he spends more time unsure of what backpack to pick than of any other major choice, such as a college or a car. This is unusual, since differences between backpacks impact one's life much less than those between colleges or cars. [ citation needed ]
A backpack and its features, or lack thereof, might impact a person on a more ongoing and intimate basis than a college choice (which, for Randall, was a long time ago) or a car (if your view of cars mainly concerns their function) in certain situations. A perfectionist technology geek, such as Cueball or Randall (as Cueball is implied to be) would likely remember, every time he used his backpack, the satisfaction of having found the perfect backpack, or the disappointment of being unable to do so.
The title text is Cueball having a conversation (or thinking to himself) about a backpack, which seems (absurdly) to be made of heavy tungsten mesh. In fact, at 85 pounds (39 kg), it is so heavy that Cueball thinks he will need to carry it around in a cart, defeating the purpose of the backpack. However, Cueball considers it simply because of the perfect pocket arrangement, which he cannot use anyway, due to the backpack's heaviness. The explanation about the pocket arrangement is written in all caps , indicating that Cueball is yelling from pure excitement at the pocket arrangement.
[Cueball stands in front of a store display with 17 backpacks and a couple of boxes on the shelf. He has pulled two backpacks down, and they sit at his feet along with a messenger bag (or satchel) behind him. He thinks to himself:] It's down to two: the one with the charger pocket and the one with— Wait, that other one is waterproof! Ugh. Do I even want a backpack? Maybe I should be looking at messenger bags again. OK, starting over.
[Caption below the comic:] Amount of time I’ve spent paralyzed by indecision over choosing the right… [A bar graph is shown. Each label is followed by a black bar representing the amount of time:] College [short bar that is 40 pixels wide] Phone [short bar that is 26 pixels wide] Apartment [short bar that is 33 pixels wide] Car [shortest bar, 20 pixels wide] Laptop [second longest bar, 46 pixels wide] Backpack [longest bar, 202 pixels wide]
Previous comics explained that decision paralysis might happen because there are detailed reviews online for the items (in 1036: Reviews ), you have very similar options and unlimited internet access (in 1801: Decision Paralysis ), or just that you're a nerd (in 309: Shopping Teams ).
