Ideaz

Have you ever gotten to the end of a busy day, looked in the fridge, and had absolutely no idea what to make for dinner, despite having an abundance of food available? Or sat in front of your TV scrolling through the endless movie options on your streaming service but failing to find anything you’re interested in? Or perhaps looked in your wardrobe, which is overflowing with clothes, but had ‘nothing to wear’?

On all of these occasions, you were likely experiencing decision fatigue, the mental exhaustion we can get after making decisions over and over again. 

Decision fatigue is a cognitive shortcut that causes irrational trade-offs in decision-making. It emerges when mental resources are depleted after making numerous decisions, leading individuals to favor immediate gratification, oversimplify complex decisions, or default to familiar, less optimal options. Learn more: What is Decision Fatigue?

Young people today, especially Gen-Z and millennials, face decision fatigue due to an overwhelming number of choices in their daily lives. Current platforms (food delivery apps, streaming services, e-commerce sites) provide endless lists instead of personalized, simplified suggestions, leaving users stuck in “scrolling loops” and increasing mental load.

Presenting "PickPal" -- an AI based application that aims to simplify the process of making lifestyle choices on a daily basis. Whether it be Food, Fashion, Work or Entertainment; PickPal's got you covered. The app primarily focuses on limiting distractions by giving specific and limited options instead of endless suggestions. Here's how:

1. Mood-based Recommender -- for food and movies
             asks for user input- can be something as simple as "Chill night in" or a minute long voice input.
             the application provides a personalized suggestion- one at a time and hence does not confuse the brain.

2. Optimization of resources -- for day to day choices
             gives a quick and easy recipie to make from the ingrediants in your fridge- saving you from the infinite loop of scrolling for recipies
             using the concept of a capsule wardrobe, gives you outfit suggestions on a daily basis exclusively from your cupboard.

3. Prioritization -- for important decisions

              schedules your tasks according to your decision quantity, mental exhaustion and cognitive abilities so that you dont end up                                  comprimising the quality of your important decisions.

Example User Journey:

         Sam opens the app on Friday night.

         Instead of scrolling endlessly on Swiggy + Netflix, she taps “Chill night in”.

         App suggests:

                 Food: “Thai Curry Bowl (₹299 from XYZ Kitchen)”

                 Movie: “Animated short film + light comedy series”

                 Option to add friends → the app adjusts plan to match everyone’s moods & budget.

                 Long term: the same app could also suggest an affordable weekend trip + local indie gig tickets.

As someone who has trouble prioritizing tasks and gets overwhelmed by decision-making very easily, I wanted to come up with a solution that makes life easier and yet, fun and interesting. While people like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerburg can wear the same coloured t-shirt everyday just to be able to reduce the number of decisions everyday, the same cannot be said for the millenials and gen-zs. Therefore, PickPal serves as an effective solution for our young population.