I'm sitting at a brewery, typing away while wearing my brand new AirPod Max headphones. The headphones are excessive in every meaning of the word. They are huge, loud, and way more expensive than any company, besides Apple, would ever dare to price a device that only makes sounds.
But, I traded in an old computer earlier today and recently have lost a pair of over-ear headphones to my kitten's teeth. Given my loss and my newfound Apple store credit, the purchase didn't seem as frivolous as it otherwise would.
Next to these headphones, my three year phone, beat-up Converses & $20 pants felt lacking in substance. Maybe it was time to upgrade my phone and my wardrobe? Thus begins the cycle of American consumerism. Buy one thing to "treat yo self" but immediately feel bad about everything else you own.
It turns out this phenomenon has a name - the Diderot effect. While the phenomenon was named in 1988 to describe this feeling, the man it was named for wrote about the impact in a story back in the late seventeen hundreds. A quick quote pulled from his story sums up this feeling: "I was absolute master of my old dressing gown, but I have become a slave to my new one … Beware of the contamination of sudden wealth. The poor man may take his ease without thinking of appearances, but the rich man is always under a strain".
On the other end of the spectrum, Minimalism also tends to get a bad wrap. Having too much control over your purchases can leave you feeling cold & calculated. Minimalists are often thought of as nearly inhuman, living in stark white homes with no artwork and a wardrobe full of black T-shirts.
There is another way to think of Minimalism - Modern Materialism. The idea behind Modern Materialism can be thought of as really liking and appreciating everything you own. If you don't remember that you even own something - you don't like it all that much and shouldn't own it. The idea isn't novel in the minimalist world. Marie Kondo's phrase "does it spark joy?" certainly sums the concept up. But the critical difference is that you shouldn't necessarily limit yourself to only white walls and black t-shirts, but instead to really like everything you own.
Don't compare your beat-up Converses to your AirPod Max. But instead, appreciate them both for what they are. A classic pair of sneakers that you can wear anywhere and never goes out of style. And a great pair of headphones that can cancel out background brewery noise so you can sit and type.