The review that did not help

A couple in Abha expecting their first child set out to choose a pram. It seems a simple decision. Then the reading starts.

They read the reviews on three sites, then the one-star reviews, then the replies to the one-star reviews. A cousin sends a long voice note. An aunt has firm views on wheels. A forum thread from another country, about a model not even sold here, takes an evening. By the second week they know a great deal about prams and are no closer to owning one.

Early on, every new piece of data helped. The first few reviews ruled out the flimsy ones. One conversation with a parent who had used a pram for a year told them what mattered on stairs and in a car boot.

Then, quite abruptly, it stopped helping. Not because the new opinions were wrong, but because most of them answered questions the couple did not have. A review about running on rough trails is real data. It is no use to two people who will mostly push a pram from a car park to a mall entrance.

There is no shortage of data about anything any more, and more is added every hour than anyone could read. The temptation is to treat all of it as relevant, because more feels safer than less.

Information is the part that changes your decision. Data is everything else. The way to get more of the first is usually to take in less of the second: decide what you are actually trying to find out, and leave the rest unread.