Don't Pimp Your Stuff!

The Diderot Effect

“The pressure to upgrade our stock of stuff is relentlessly unidirectional, always ascending.” -sociology professor Juliet Schor

The things we own comprise a significant part of who we are.  Our identities are tied up in our clothes, gadgets, living quarters, furniture, etc.  We try to find a unity in our possessions. The Diderot Effect states that obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption which leads you to acquire more new things. As a result, we end up buying things that our previous selves never needed to feel happy or fulfilled.

This phenomenon is called after the French philosopher Denis Diderot, who, after living his life in poverty, comes into a large sum of money, then bought himself a scarlet dressing gown.  Soon he noticed that his living quarters, his other clothes and more seemed so shabby compared to the dressing gown.  He then began using up his money to my more things consistent with the scarlet cape, eventually putting himself in debt.

All products purchased by a consumer aim to be cohesive with that consumer’s identity.

The introduction of a new, atypical product can trigger a process of spiraling consumerism.  Take, for instance, buying a new suit.  Goodness, those old shoes won’t work with it, and neither will the old belt.  Yeah, gotta lose the shirt and tie, too.  So you go out and buy accessories to match the cool new suit. And that's just the beginning.

Our natural inclination is always to accumulate, to add, to upgrade, and to build upon. We are rarely looking to downgrade, to simplify, to eliminate, to reduce.

When we obtain a new item when tend to acquire additional ones.  Being aware of this problem can help you avoid it. 

1) Don’t splurge on a really deluxe version of anything, clothes, houses, furniture, or technique, that doesn’t fit in well with your existing belongings.

2) Don’t allow your children to pressure you to buy things you can’t comfortably afford.

3) Let go of desiring things. There will never be a level where you will be done craving things. There is always something to upgrade or update.

4) If you do buy things, get rid of the old.  Otherwise, you are stuck with a hoarder’s lair!

I read a scary story of a man who died in his apartment during a fire because the firefighters couldn’t get through his stuff to reach him and rescue him.