problem hacker #24
The Boredom Paradox
My kids spent too much of Christmas on their devices.
I know, terrible parent. But it was cold. They were bored. And before you suggest “send them outside”, they went outside. They were bored there too. And cold.
Here’s the truth: they have access to literally everything. More or less every game ever made. Every song. Every video. Every app. And yet still they’re constantly bored.
I was about to lecture them about gratitude or attention spans or whatever parents are supposed to say. But then I opened Spotify.
100 million songs. I listened to Bright Eyes. Again. The same albums I’ve been listening to for 30 years.
I have access to literally everything. I listen to almost nothing.
The kids aren’t the problem, the abundance is.
The Pattern
Spotify: 100 million songs. Most users have fewer than 50 in regular rotation.
Netflix: Thirty minutes browsing. Watched The Office again.
Roblox: Unlimited games. Kids play 99 Nights In The Forest. Again.
Your SaaS stack: Company pays for 47 platforms. Team uses four.
The promise was infinite choice equals infinite possibility. What we got instead is analysis paralysis and regression to defaults.
Why Businesses Get This Wrong
Because abundance sounds better. Try selling “we give users 10 carefully curated songs” to investors versus “we give users 100 million songs.” Try telling your boss you’re focusing on one channel instead of running campaigns across 12.
Abundance is defensible in meetings. Curation looks limited. But abundance creates paralysis while curation creates action.
What This Looks Like
Product roadmaps with 37 features planned for Q1 mean nothing ships well and users adopt nothing. “Omnichannel strategies” across eight platforms deliver mediocre everywhere with momentum nowhere. “Unlimited everything” SaaS products lead to teams sprawling with nobody owning anything.
I have access to every artist who ever recorded anything for £10 a month. My Spotify Wrapped at least suggested I had a different top 3 this year, but otherwise it’s more of the same. Not because they’re the best available, but because they’re my music; the constraint I chose, the boundary that makes listening an actual experience rather than an infinite scroll.
Your company has access to every marketing channel, every tool, every tactic. You default to what you did last year, not because it’s optimal but because choosing is work.
The Real Problem
Businesses solve for access when customers need direction. Most product strategy asks how we enable more use cases when it should ask how we guide users to the right use case. Most content strategy asks how we be everywhere when it should ask how we be unmissable somewhere.
Curation is strategy. Not “here’s everything, you choose” but “here’s what matters, trust us.” That’s scary because curation means saying no, means betting you understand what people need better than they do.
But look at what works: Apple Music’s personalised playlists outperform Spotify’s infinite library. TikTok’s algorithm beats YouTube’s endless recommendations. People don’t want more choice, they want confidence in their choice.
The Hack
Before planning 2026, answer these:
- Where are you optimising for access? More features, more channels, more options.
- Where could you optimise for direction instead? Fewer features with clearer purpose, one channel with dominant presence, one path with an obvious next step.
- What would you do if you could only ship one thing? Not “what’s most important alongside everything else” but “what if this was it.”
Most businesses are creating abundance when customers need curation, adding options when they should be adding confidence.
My kids aren’t bored because they don’t have enough options. They’re bored because they have too many. Every game looks the same when you can play them all, nothing feels special when everything’s available.
I’m not different. Thirty years later, still listening to the same albums because infinite choice made me regress to what I know.
Your customers are doing the same thing with your product. You gave them 47 features and they use four. You gave them infinite flexibility and they copy what they did last quarter. You gave them access to everything and they’re still bored.
Maybe 2026 isn’t about giving them more. Maybe it’s about showing them what matters.
*Smart takes on strategy, growth, and insight. From Mark Jefford, ex-GWI Strategy Director *// jefford .