People have taken different approaches to dealing with the current economic situation. While some people spend their time extreme couponing, searching for the best bargains or digging themselves deeper into debt, others are taking an entirely different approach. There has been a rise in minimalism, or living with less, over the past few years. In Affluenza, John De Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor refer to the idea of “voluntary simplicity” which is described by Cecile Andrews as a way for people to “meet their real needs instead of the false needs that advertisers create. They learn to live in ways that are high fulfillment, but low environmental impact,” (p. 184). This movement is similar to the Minimalist movement that has been on the rise over the past few years. Both movements, has well as many other living with less movements, are focused mainly on the reduction of material items to counteract the growing consumerism in our country, as well as finding a deeper meaning in life through the elimination of these items.
Bloggers such as, Joshua Becker of “Becoming Minimalist” and Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus of “The Minimalists” write about their experiences in simplifying their lives. They offer help, support and ideas for others who are considering becoming minimalists themselves. Joshua Becker provides a list of “101 Things That Can Be Reduced In Your Home” in one of his entries, which contains items that many people would view as household staples, including pots, pans, mirrors and towels. While he’s not suggesting that one get rid of all of these items entirely, he is suggesting that people cut down on each to the fewest number necessary. Additionally, Joshua Becker suggests increasing the use of technology in life so as to cut down on the number of possessions one owns. In an interview with Christina Hernandez Sherwood for the article “Becoming minimalist: when having fewer possessions means living a better life” Becker states, “There are times when technology makes minimalism very easy. For example, with the Kindle you don’t have to own physical books. [With scanners] we can scan our papers and documents. [With] digital cameras, you’re able to store your photos digitally. You don’t need to get a newspaper delivered to your home. You can read it online. But it’s easy to go too far. The collection of technology to collect technology becomes cumbersome. Technology needs support and time and energy to invest in it. There’s a balancing act of using it to make your life simpler, but also not complicating your life.”
While this idea has been around for decades, it has taken on a new form with the growth of technology. Blogs and online forums have become a new form of the “study circles” mentioned in Affluenza. Technology also has allowed for people to own fewer physical items, but one must also wonder, is the increased use of technology rather than physical belongings just a different form of consumption? Are people truly cutting down on consumerism if they are instead relying on computers, Kindles, scanners and digital cameras? Many minimalists set a target number of items they would like to cut down to, do you think the average American could cut down to just 100 items like some of these minimalists?
I agree with you that being a minimalist doesn't necessarily mean being less dependent on consumer culture. I try to think of it more as "condensing" our current goods into appliances that makes it more readily available. We still need to buy books for our kindles; we still need to pay for movies on NetFlix, and mp3s are not free on Itunes. When the idea of minimalist comes to my mind, I immediately begin to think of the movie Fight Club, where the main characters actually give up almost all of their possessions. Perhaps in today's day an age, there are two definitions of minimalist? One in which you strive to have the most MINIMAL amount of goods in a spacial sphere while still living a normal life, and the other living purely on the MINIMAL amount of items needed to survive. This new way of living "minimally" is only because the exponential increase in technology in the past 20 years. Who knows what will happen in the future because eventually, there is going to be a time when we can't compact information anymore. Perhaps the list of 100 items that Americans should cut down on won't even exist anymore.
ReplyDeleteIt is a good point, to state if people are actually being minimalists by resorting to technology to help them condense the amount of physical items that they own. Its almost like replacing one habit with another. Like the comment above and the initial blog itself, by getting a kindle to download books just so you don't have the physical book itself doesn't necessarily mean that you are living a life style that takes you away from consumerism. Yes the physical representation of your consumerist tendency may be lessened but the concept remains through the technology you are dependent on. In many ways it may worse to put more dependency on technology to de-clutter oneself of the physical representation of consumerism. Emphasis on technology as stated in the blog just leads to a different form of consumerism. Is it worse? That is hard to say and the question that rings the loudest. One other point to bring up is the whole concept of minimalism. It is an interesting idea that holds some clout in our society today. Sure there will always be a counter-culture to standard culture. Minimalism does possess qualities that woulod be ideal for all Americans to embrace on some level. If people can get away from owning more items then what is truly feasible it would interesting to see what changes would develop in the common culture. Things like obsolesence and appliance durability may change but highly unlikely. Good blog though.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be very difficult for the average American to cut down to less than 100 items such as the minimalists accomplished. Americans have been come scared of the current economic crisis and high unemployment rate. Holding on to the money in our bank accounts and reducing spending has become the wiser thing to do in many of our minds. Although we do spend on the things we feel we need, but that can vary from person to person. Some may think the things they need are things such as updating their car to a newer one, or a fancy watch because it’s a new style. Someone such as me is worried about putting food on the table not “keeping up with the Kardashians.” I was a previous shopaholic and bought something more than once a week especially because it was on sale or a new trend.
ReplyDeleteI think it is all about minimizing and be more cautious of the luxuries that we use. People have to realize that is not just about the stopping or replacing certain items used. They can simply cut down on how long they keep certain household items on such as electricity, gas, heat, and water. There is no reasons to constantly water their lawns, take 20 minute showers, light up or heat up rooms that aren’t being used. Utilities are some of the biggest expenses in some households. There are many generic brands that can replace name brands and there are many healthy foods to are cheaper than others. Coupons can be found weekly in the paper and online. People have taken different approaches to dealing with the current economic situation.
Now I find myself becoming more conscious of money and spending. I have been using coupons for food and retail stores. The coupons that were no use to me, I gave them to friends. Why wouldn’t I want to use a coupon and save money on an item I will already be purchasing?
Donna Fricano -- Section 80
After experiencing six days with no electricity and studying industrializm. I realized that living in a frugal life is another form of consumerism and not solving the problem of how we conserve our energy. I recognized the picture you posted is an advertisment for interior decoration. The idea originated from a Japanese architect. However, if one truly wishes to live with nature, one does not have to build a house by killing trees and occupying space. Also not questioning who would do the work? The picture and experience means that we are not totally free from being dependent on electricity and being dependent on others to do the work for us.
ReplyDeleteI think living without the superfluous items that make up the modern household is a wonderful idea. our houses are cluttered with papers and useless junk that nobody even thinks twice about. as far as the minimalist living as concerned, it sounds like your just switching your material goods, to even more electronic goods. I would not be surprised to see that bill gates came up with this idea himself. So i think its a good idea, but im still on the edge though.
ReplyDeleteMinimalism is defiantly growing in popularity due to our economic situation. Cutting down to a hundred items is may be considered taking this a little too far. What really needs to happen is people need to stop being fooled by advertisers. People find it necessary to replace there 2010 BMW with the new 2011 BMW because advertisers are telling them there 2010 just can’t keep up with the new 2011. Although this is just one example, it is simply foolish to fall for such a dumb advertising scheme. People are constantly consuming simply to consume and I blame advertisers for this just as much as the passive consumers falling for these tricks. If people can just become educated on what really matters in life and not get so caught up in the consumption of goods to relay your social status I think it would solve many problems. It is sad that people are judged by what they own, this certainly needs to change in this country.
ReplyDeleteRobbie McLarney section 01
I agree with the argument of how minimalism is not as idealistically approachable as people put it to be. If people cut down on books and printing pictures, for example, they would have to invest in buying ereaders and cameras. Whether or not people realize this, this is actually causing the opposite to happen. Even when we are decreasing consumption is some form of paper print, we are increasing consumption in technology. This eventually leads people to not be satisfied with just the camera or the ereader and they find ways to accessorize it, just replace it all together every time a new model of it comes out, or even buy multiple similar forms of the devices for collective purposes. In the end, I feel it is the nature of Americans to consume and the idea of perfect minimalism is idealistic and impossible.
ReplyDeleteI think your question on whether we are simply replacing a form of consumption with another is interesting because by eliminating the massive amounts of books on our shelves, we look to e Readers to satisfy that aspect of our lives. It makes sense in the technological world that we live in, but sooner or later a better e Reader will come along and we'll get rid of the one we have. As opposed to the actual physical book, which will continue to provide the same experience as a newer copy of the book. As mentioned above, in a way, we are simply switching from one form of consumerism, to another.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find really interesting about this blog post is how some of the blame is being taking away from technology which is surprising because often times all of the blame falls onto advancements in technology. While it is ideal to use technology as a way of cutting back on some levels of consumption this does open a person up to a great deal more advertisements. The kindle is a good example of this, before how often were people really visiting book stores, subjecting themselves to a never ending stream of advertisements? Now with the invention of Kindle a person is being exposed to these advertisements on a much more frequent basis. Its hard for me to really plant my foot agreeing with one side or the other because there are obvious pros and cons associated with both.
ReplyDelete- Kara Kiensicki (Section 01)
Your question regarding the increase of technology over buying other physical items has positives and negatives. Yes, it may cut down on a large library of books in your home to own a Kindle. Call me "old school" or just stubborn, but I cannot stand reading a book from a screen. For me, and many young people I know, something about being able to hold a novel and put it on a shelf when I finish reading it has sentimental value. But my sentiments aside, what the minimalist who believes in the improvement computer technology makes is forgetting is how inefficient it actually is to disassemble and recycle computer hardware. A book has a basic makeup of wood which can be recylced fairly easily. A Kindle is full of chemical hardware that is nearly impossible to breakdown. When we throw out our old technology, most of it gets shipped to third world countries where children and adults take these dangerous computer chips apart in order to harvest and sell what they can. Unfortunately, many of the chemicals end up leaching into their already limited water supply and contaminating it. Technology may be smaller, but its components are harder to dispose of. It's a lot easier to hold onto a book that I love for 40 years and recycle it once than buy several Kindles over a lifetime and never know what the damage the one you throw out is doing to the world.
ReplyDeleteMinimalism has started to grow rapidly over the last few years in this current economy. There are many ways for people to try to live on less or to even cut things down in there life from kindles, ipods & trading websites people can start to cut out the over flow in there life. Instead of buying books people just download them to there kindles (e-reader's ect) & trading things online with other people, these ways are ideal for helping to cut down the storage issues for people's massive collection of consumption. I agree with Javier Morillo comment about how this is just opening up the space on book shevles because somewhere down the line a newer version of the kindle or ereader will come out & then the cycle continues to buy the newest technology. It is far harder to recycle computer type items (ie. kindles, ipads ect...) because the technology iteam comes with different types of chemical acid & a book is just paper that can reused or just traded online. So my question is by using technology to help give space on your book shelves are you truely living the minimalism way of life? I would think to live minimal one would only have items that they need for day to day life & just try to cut out all of the excess. I also agree with Robbie Mclarney that people need to stop being caught up with the newest model of the same product they already have. People are just fooled by the advertisers & understand that the mass consumption that has been happening for decades now is atarting to pile up around us all.
ReplyDeleteAnneMarie Esemplare sec. 80
I believe that Americans could possibly cut down to only 100 products or so, but I don’t believe most would like to do that. Just thinking of my stuff personally, there are a ton of things I could get rid of, but that whole idea of I might need this one day, really keeps me holding on to these items. Being a minimalist takes a lot of consideration and weighting of options. I believe to have less we would have to think more. We would have to decide and choose between things, when people don’t want to choose one or the other, they just want. I read somebody else’s comment about losing power for days, and I think this is a realistic awakening as to how we discover what we have and rely on, by not actually having it. Sure we could all go a day without these things, but when the power company says day’s.. Everyone starts to panic. The idea of being a minimalist sounds pretty simple, and if we didn’t have these things in the first place we couldn’t miss them.
ReplyDelete