Choices

A lot of intelligent people misuse the word "ambivalence" to mean something like "no strong preference between choices." However, ambi- and -valence refer to two possibilities that both have compelling reasons to choose one over the other. In the current world we have more resources and much less existential impact from each and every choice we make in comparison to colonial or antebellum America. Even into the early part of last century, prior to the New Deal, individuals had more limits on the choices that they made and much deeper consequences on those choices they did have. Today, the concept of having two choices about which the chooser has no strong reason to pick one or the other and no real compulsion to make the choice at all is probably much useful. I wish there were a single term like "ambivalent" to use for that situation. The closest I have come is nonplussed but that refers to the emotional state of the chooser, not to their mind of the choice.