Minimalism is consumerism in disguise

09/05 2024

Othello and Desdemona by Carlos Alonso (1969)

Minimalism as an idea is about having just enough in order to be happy, but on the internet the algorithm favors the notion of consumerism disguised as an effort to simplify your life. That smartphones are the devil of all distractions, and dumb phones are the answer. The alternative hypothesis that it's the social media algorithms which are to blame, which in my opinion is far more likely, is not mentioned. In other words, minimalism is infected by the notion that it is in fact things, and not psychology, that drives behavior change.

I've touched on it before, but I think the answer to why is two-fold:

  1. The algorithm favors it: attention and engagement is the game nowadays. This type of content drives engagement, both with having people commenting that it sounds neat, and people saying the opposite. A thing is easier to engage with than an idea.

  2. The brain favors it: wouldn't it be great if we could buy a pill to let us become our best selves? I sure would like it. Though we all know that it doesn't exist. We are the best we have. But the brain is resilient, and if we hear that somebody buys something, and that product "works for them", then we want to believe it. Though, we know in the back of our minds that it's not true.

Actually, the reason why I wanted to write this is I came across the Freewrite. No shade on their company. Judging from the reviews, their products look good. But the motivation for why their product needs to exist is, I think, dubious. Behavior change does not emerge from things, it emerges from behavior, repeated until it becomes habit. Though as it stands, the website is peppered with claims of increasing focus and productivity, and I don't blame them. If it helps them sell their products, it helps them sell their products. Though, it does further enforce the idea that what we need is in fact not to work on ourselves and our focus more, but more tools to fix our shortcomings.

But as tools, the modern smartphone and the computer are absolutely fantastic. With just my smartphone and laptop I have been able to replace every other tech device. My smart phone is a music player, radio, GPS and way to communicate. My computer allows me to do work and research. Talk about minimalism and multi-functionalism. Yet, if internet sentiment is to be believed then they are in fact not so. Written down this seems ludicrous, of course. The question is obviously how we tame the tools, and not how we replace them. Though that is not the focus since that leaves the responsibility on ourselves and that is difficult. Though the road towards change is, perhaps necessarily, difficult. And there's no way around that.