10 ms·

The Oppressive Gospel of ‘Minimalism’

111 points by prismatic 10y ago

usmeteora 10y ago
hmm 1. Addressing the claim that minimalism is for the elite, I think its a result for people who have the luxury of time and money to take a thorough look at their life needs, have the time and structure in their life to have long term goals and then organize their life to fit those goals and optimize their things around their life which is centered around a busy work schedule. Absolutely, if you are a poor refugee you are making ends meet from day to day. you are not organizing kitchen ware, you are at Salvation Army buying clothing for your children and just as you have a spare $60 in your paycheck your sons discount coat's zipper is broken in the middle of winter so you need to buy a new one, but you only have $60, ha probably a fraction of that to figure out a solution. You are not on Amazon finding a long term investment triple wool down Northface jacket that is light yet warm and will last your son until college. It is true that it takes time, organization and a higher initial capital to invest in long term sustainable products that are planned in advance to meet a lifestyle you have planned, but that does not mean its arrogant. There will be people who aspire, just like they aspire to every "trend" to emulate this hoping to fit in with an image as a result, but it's not fair rational or logical to assign the whole group of people to that when the pioneers of this in technology ended up living this life as a RESULT of trying to optimize their life, not deciding in advance this is what they wanted. It ended up that optimizing your life helps you work more, live more organized and have less hiccups in life when time and efficiency is of the essence. 2. It's also not fair to assume the same people who had wealth 50 years ago living in mansions and lavish wealth are the same genre of people who have "dissavowed the advantages that helped them obtain wealth". The people using this lifestyle mostly in technology are new people creating new wealth and were never associated nor did they grow up with the lavish lifestyle they are supposedly disavowing. Steve jobs started his company in a garage and basically always lived out of his backpack, and the saying goes he didnt even leave the office long enough to unpack into his new place for months after going back to Apple. Is that arrogance of just living efficiently and not putting trinkets and pictures on your wall to stare at while youre on the couch because youre never on the couch? 3. Personally, I've gone minimalist as a result of being a tech graduate with student loans so constrained money, and also not knowing if I'm going to be living on the east coast or west coast in two years. I have a very minimalist apartment and everything I buy I base the quality of whether it's something I'm willing to ship across the country in the next few years or something I am fine to give away when it's time to move 3,000 miles, and in general most of the time I decide not to buy it at all. I am not doing this so I can take minimalist photos on instagram of my blank living room apartment, I'm doing it because for my lfie style, clutter is a result of downtime not scraping by on day to day needs like refugees which I totally sympathize with but my minimalism is not arrogant or looking down on them, it's how I choose to live life for me, not to put my nose up to poor people, and not to tag it on instagram. This article is not even journalism, it's opinion with barely any facts excepts the numerical results for clicking the "minimalism" hashtag on instagram. This is also entirely leaving out that given the housing crisis and the economy, people in their 20s like me, my generation has way less trust in stocks, the economy and the promise of the American Dream aka owning a house with a wife a 2 kids (given college is outrageously expensive and the divorce rate and broken families of this country is outrageous as well and the finances associated with it that atleast half of us in this country grew up wtinessing first hand), and companies do massive layoffs and on average people in my generation switch jobs every 7 years as opposed to more than double that 20 years ago. We are economically incentivized to be mobile and adept learners so electronics aid us in that, not houses and long term relationships that lock us into a lifetime of financial debt if they don't work out. I think this is the most valid reason why it catches on regardless of the elite few who initiated the lifestyle out of in my opinion efficiency not arrogance, yet the composer of this article is like "maybe its this" in one sentence (referring to the summarized version of everything I've said in Part 3) or maybe its arrogance and pomposity and spends the majority of the article on that, and then refers to the "elite few" to blame for this instead of the usual mass of people who are always going to jump on anything trendy.
- AnimalMuppet 10y ago
  > Addressing the claim that minimalism is for the elite, I think its a result for people who have the luxury of time and money to take a thorough look at their life needs, have the time and structure in their life to have long term goals and then organize their life to fit those goals and optimize their things around their life which is centered around a busy work schedule. There is a component of elitism here. If you're poor, you hang on to stuff, because it may come in handy. If you have enough money and some left over, you can get rid of stuff, because if it turns out you really needed one of the things you got rid of, you can buy a new one. But if you can't afford the new one, you keep stuff "just in case". But, even if minimalism may require a certain level of financial not-on-the-edge, for many of us, it's not a pose. For myself, I just hate clutter. As Paul Graham said, a cluttered scene takes more mental energy to parse. If there's enough clutter that you have to move around stuff, it takes more physical energy just to walk across the room. I don't have time in my life for that kind of waste.
  - madamelic 10y ago
    >If you're poor, you hang on to stuff, because it may come in handy. If you have enough money and some left over, you can get rid of stuff, because if it turns out you really needed one of the things you got rid of, you can buy a new one. But if you can't afford the new one, you keep stuff "just in case". Yep! This is my exact argument for why minimalism works well for more well-off people. If you can afford to buy a $3 screwdriver again, why keep it around if you only use it once a year. It is just clutter. There is another argument of using Craigslist as storage (sell what you don't need, buy it back when you need it). It also relies on having free money to be able to do such a thing though.
    - jff 10y ago
      Or, or, OR, I can just keep a toolbox in the garage instead of spending an hour+ searching craigslist and meeting some dude in a 7/11 parking lot every time I need to tighten a fucking screw!
      - 10y ago
sosuke 10y ago
How is bird watching like minimalism or paleo? I love bird watching but completely miss the connection. What is the "material purge" of bird watching?
- bhauer 10y ago
  I don't personally agree with the author's point, or the article in general, but my reading of that sentence was a suggestion that all three are things that the practitioners talk about at length. Each is a lifestyle choice or hobby that people like telling others about. Another example is CrossFit.
- avsbst 10y ago
  While I disagree with the author, I believe his intent was to claim that bird watchers, Paleo dieters and minimalists are similar in that talking about their respective activities is just as important as participating in it. "And, as with watching birds or going Paleo, talking about [minimalism] is just as important as actually doing it."
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- mikestew 10y ago
  "And, as with watching birds or going Paleo, talking about the material purge is just as important as actually doing it." The implication is that, like your friends who "went Paleo" or your CrossFit buddy, bird watchers will...not...shut up about it. But I don't think I've ever known a single person in my relatively long life that would go on and on about bird watching, so I don't get the comparison, either.
  - Aqueous 10y ago
    But I don't think I've ever known a single person in my relatively long life that would go on and on about bird watching In contrast, all the people I've known who go on and on about bird-watching have been single.
l33tbro 10y ago
>The fetishized austerity and performative asceticism of minimalism is a kind of ongoing cultural sickness. It's hardly more than a design trend. Similar to naturalism in the 1970's, when the walls of your home and your television set had a wooden finish. >We misinterpret material renunciation, austere aesthetics and blank, emptied spaces as symbols of capitalist absolution, when these trends really just provide us with further ways to serve our impulse to consume more, not less. Not really. It's more the fact that a guy called Steve Jobs reanimated a dying computer business into a global mega-cult, wholeheartedly embracing and thereby popularizing ideas of people like Dieter Rams. While some alternatives to minimalism would be nice, I think what the author is (rightly) dissatisfied with is our economic system and the exchange of goods, not the actual way in which those goods are selected and consumed.
- ktRolster 10y ago
  Similar to naturalism in the 1970's, when the walls of your home and your television set had a wooden finish. Oh, I always wondered why that was. Now I know why, the aesthetic trend of naturalism.
- mitchty 10y ago
  > Not really. It's more the fact that a guy called Steve Jobs reanimated a dying computer business into a global mega-cult, wholeheartedly embracing and thereby popularizing ideas of people like Dieter Rams. I suppose thats one way to look at it, but a counter example. I'm getting into hardware debugging/hacking/etc... so I've a need for an oscilloscope and a logic analyzer. I could get an el cheapo oscilloscope for about $450, and a logic analyzer for about another 400. But then both of these are separate, and the logic analyzer depends on my computer as well. So instead, I'm saving up for a Rohde and Schwarz MSO oscilloscope that while much more expensive at about ~$3,000 with all the options, takes up less space and does everything. (it also has no fan which i'm huge on) Yes this is arguably minimalism, but i'd argue the trend is more rooted in modernism of the 20's. I'll spend more to reduce clutter, I don't really have a glut of space in which to put it all.
- LordHumungous 10y ago
  I do often wonder if exposed beams and varnished concrete floors will be as ridiculous to people in 2030 as shag carpets and faux wood paneling are to us today.
abritinthebay 10y ago
This is an impressive rant but it is pretty rambling and incoherent for the most part. Minimalism advocates can be dogmatic and that tends to be bad, but taking cues from minimalism isn't a bad thing when it makes something better. Will it be better for all time? Probably not, but that's ok.
mrec 10y ago
I've seen this "minimalism == privileged posing" line of argument a few times now. It may be fair in many cases, but I think there's another angle that never seems to get mentioned: I'd guess that a disproportionate number of these "posers" live in tech hubs like SF, NY or London. In places like that, owning stuff may simply be unaffordable, not because the stuff itself is unaffordable but because space to put it is unaffordable. That is, they may be cash-rich but space-poor, whereas the stereotypical rural redneck with 3 old cars up on bricks in the front yard for spares may be cash-poor but space-rich. You can call this "sour grapes" or "making a virtue of necessity", depending on how generous you're feeling, but I think there's more to it than just posing.
- maxxxxx 10y ago
  I just wish they would write about it only a few years after they have started to go minimalist and have actually lived it. There are so many articles who write how great being minimalist is two weeks after they have sold their car or whatever.
  - bovermyer 10y ago
    Conor McMillen does this.
  - mikestew 10y ago
    I've been wondering about this as well. Looking back, I guess I've always been kind "minimalist" (before it was cool, suckers). Liked running because less equipment. Went years without a car in Indianapolis where public transit was such a joke as to be almost non-existent. Seldom keep things around for "sentimental value". I just don't want things hanging around that take up space or need attention unless they serve some regular utility. (And for the record, my wife and I suck at being "minimalist", but we do put up a good fight. But no one's going to look in our garage and mistake us for Buddhist monks.) But you have to keep constantly vigilant. Much like training for a marathon, where every day has at least some portion of it taken up by training, each meal involves making good decisions, and kiss your Sundays goodbye because you won't be doing much after that 20 mile run other than taking a nap. The minimalist weighs every potential purchase, has to figure out to get to that party without a car, has to figure out how to cook supper with a single spork. And like anything that takes up a significant portion of your day, you'll talk about it...constantly. At least for the first marathon. After that, you realize that no one else cares but you, so you learn to dial it back. So like Paleo, CrossFit, and marathons, let's circle back in a few year as you suggest and see how it's going once the novelty wears off. Because all of the chatter of "minimalism" strikes me as n00bs all fired up about their new "hobby", and they'll quiet down when the new wears off and they want to watch a movie on something bigger than 10".
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
Luc 10y ago
'I don't like something other people like. Now I must find every way possible to rationalize my dislike, and use lots of adjectives doing so!'
- mcguire 10y ago
  That's ok. They don't like what you like, either, and are perfectly happy to explain why in detail.
pavs 10y ago
I get very easily distracted with things in my life. Both online and offline. So I tried minimalistic lifestyle a shot, which to me basically means to get rid of anything that I don't really need but just taking a space in my life and simply get rid of it. It took a long time over 4 months and I am still working on chucking things out of my life. I can honestly say that it made life so much better, I feel less cluttered in my mind. I have better concentration and I feel more productive instead of doing busy-work throughout the day. It might not work for everyone, but it works for me.
- madamelic 10y ago
  I think there is nothing wrong with striving to be minimalistic but I think getting competitively minimalist or even encouraging others to hit some point (throw out 1 thing, then 2, then 50... then 60...) is a little silly. Clearing your mind and physical space is something every one should strive for in my opinion but there is no use in this ultimate minimalism where you are living with no furniture.
jdmoreira 10y ago
I didn't get into minimalism as a fad or even something I read on the web. I simply moved to another country and could only bring what would fit in my suitcase. As a result I got rid of a lot of the stuff I had accumulated during my life, I got rid of almost everything I owned. As soon as I did it, I was overwhelmed with a sensation of freedom and peace of mind that I can't compare to anything else. Another major simplification I've done was to dress almost the same everyday. I own multiple items of the same clothes. All my tshirts are the same, all my socks/underwear are the same. I also buy the same shoes and jeans again and again. I look better and I feel much better! I also quit all social media except LinkedIn and HN and stopped reading the news. The thing I'll try next is to eat the same meals everyday. Maybe it won't work but I'll try it. I would also like to live in a bedroom with not much more than a futon and a desk. But it's going to be hard because my girlfriend doesn't share my enthusiasm. This is anecdotal, take it with skepticism if you want, but I regard this changes as some of the best decisions I made in my life.
- sndean 10y ago
  > I would also like to live in a bedroom with not much more than a futon and a desk. But it's going to be hard because my girlfriend doesn't share my enthusiasm At least in my n=1 experience, it's not that bad. Just have to accept that 99% of the stuff will be your girlfriend's. One positive is that she'll have difficult time complaining to you that you need to clean up, since it'll always be her mess.
  - throwanem 10y ago
    > One positive is that she'll have difficult time complaining to you that you need to clean up, since it'll always be her mess. In my n=1 experience, this is an assumption that won't necessarily be borne out in practice.
- ChillyWater 10y ago
  I'm thinking you would want to keep batting around the cycle of various meals. Seems like you wouldn't get the full nutrient coverage with only one or two (or five) different meals. Sometimes I really crave a salad with a bunch of vegetables. Sometimes I crave meat. Makes me think my body knows something.
jasoncchild 10y ago
Minimalism via choice vs via circumstance :)
uberstuber 10y ago
There's aesthetic minimalism and lifestyle minimalism. These two can overlap but often they clash, and are largely different movements. I'm trying to figure out why minimalism gets such a negative reaction from people. Is it because aesthetic minimalism is too popular on instagram/tumblr, and now it's cool to hate on the popular thing? No one's forcing you to get rid of your stuff, no one's forcing you to read minimalism blogs.
- twblalock 10y ago
  The negative reaction generally comes from the implied (or sometimes explicit) argument from minimalists that everyone else is some kind of slave to their possessions, consumerist sheep, etc.
  - hosh 10y ago
    I'm not a minimalist, but I'll be explicit. Pretty much 99% (I made that number up; pretty much everyone) of the people are controlled by impulses and confuse them for their real selves. I have seen people who identify themselves as minimalist do the same -- though they might be a slave to an idea rather than to a physical object. I've seen myself slip into that frame from time to time. Depending on who I talk to about this, I might get a thoughtful response, or an angry response. But yeah, unless you are going to be impeccably honest about yourself, you're likely to be a slave to your possession and a consumerist sheep and don't know it. Yet at the same time, within each person, buried under all those layers of consumerist sheep, is an amazing being. It is rare for someone to actualize that, but it's there. If you pay attention, you can see it. And it has nothing to do with your tastes, likes, wants, desires, fears, ambitions, goals, passions, possessions, profession, race, gender, creed, politics, morality, or personality for that matter. This amazing self has nothing to do with the conditioned or social self. And for some reason, people get offended when I dismiss their conditioned self. For me, it is, "hey, look at this amazing being underneath all of that," and the response is, "How dare you! I like my conditioned self just fine, thank you." "Uh, sure, ok..."
    - abakker 10y ago
LordHumungous 10y ago
One problem I have with this article is that it treats minimalism as something new. Minimalism has recurred throughout history, from Buddhist philosophy, to the Roman stoics, to medieval Christian monks, to Japanese culture, to Islamic art, to modernist art. Taste seems to oscillate between baroque and minimalist. It's not surprising that minimalism is in vogue during the current age of internet driven over-stimulation.
- hosh 10y ago
  This is the wrong frame to look at it. If you are conceiving of minimalism as aesthetic taste, you miss the whole point of the Buddhist and Stoics, or any of the ascetic practices. The contents of your living area is a reflection of the contents of your mind. Memories inside of you are attached to the external objects. A disorganized room tends to be a reflection of a disorganized mind. I've seen myself and others leave trash on the floor for months, because it is anchored to some piece of trash internally that one is reluctant to get rid of. This stuff has more to do with your experience as a consciousness rather than social signaling. The article here, and many of the comments here discusses minimalism as social signaling. Yet the people who originated the ascetic practices got rid of stuff not as a response to social trends, but as part of their personal practice to pare away the wrapping in their _consciousness_ and find their true selves. Going against the social grain is a powerful way to detach your identification. Yet if you blindly follow minimalism or boroque as a social trend because other people are, then you're still jumping from one attachment to the next.
- api 10y ago
  Your last point is one I don't see mentioned often enough: minimalism as rebellion against over-stimulation and cognitive overload.
hosh 10y ago
I once talked to a guy who thought of himself as Zen / minimalist -- and thought I was too. Minimalism isn't a thing for me. It's not a sense of aesthetics, though I do like the ascetic and pared-down aesthetic ... but also the decadent and baroque of Victorian and steampunk. What I do and what I am got confused with minimalism because I actually practice meditation, and I actually know what kind of effect things, objects, emotions, thoughts, and narratives have on the psyche. Minimalism, when it becomes a a thing one identifies with, as a form of social signaling, and as a form of narrative about yourself tells me that that person is no longer practicing impeccably. "Do you own the object or does the object own you?" still applies even if you become obsessed with minimalism. You might have purged a number of consumer goods out of your life, and yet the very _idea_ of minimalism continues to possess and obsess you. It has never been about getting every little thing out of your life. It's sufficient for it to reveal enough of your truer self. It's about shedding your social identities, not heaping ostentation upon more ostentation.
jondiggsit 10y ago
Remove the "ism" here. It's not a damn philosophy or religious movement. What people basically want is simplification in an ever increasing world of sensory overload. That's it folks.
- ctdonath 10y ago
  Speak for yourself. Such simplification has long been a critical step in achieving philosophical or religious ideals.
c3534l 10y ago
I don't think lifestyle minimalism is new. Read Walden where Henry David Thoreau tries to live a life as simple as possible. A far better critique and analysis than this essay.
- ctdonath 10y ago
  Modern equivalent to recommend: The Man Who Quit Money. While few of us will ever go quite that far, it is an intriguing study of how far one can go in minimizing, and the costs & benefits of doing so.
twblalock 10y ago
Minimalists who spend significant time thinking about minimalism and discussing it on online forums are just as obsessed about their possessions as the people they criticize. The only difference is that minimalists obsess about having fewer possessions, and the people they criticize obsess about having more. People who are truly unburdened by their possessions do not need to spend much time thinking about them.
iamleppert 10y ago
Don't these people have any hobbies or interests? Hobbies and interests, a personality, dare I might say, require "stuff". You develop a sense of style, and you get things around you that help to describe and tell your story in life. I don't understand the people that are content with this kind of self-imposed "I can do with just the bare essentials" lifestyle. Unless you're traveling, or doing something of that nature, I am generally distrustful of people who can be gone in an hour. There's something about this kind of lifestyle (I've known several minimalist people well) that is synonymous with fear of commitment and general instability in their life. A lot of people I met have adopted the lifestyle because it's a learned behavoir from either years of instability, an off-beat childhood, or some kind of abusive relationship. Human beings need stuff around them, and it's perfectly normal to accumulate stuff if you've lived somewhere any length of time. On the other end of the spectrum of minimalism would of course be hoarding. Not saying that either lifestyle is "bad", but you wouldn't call hoarding exactly normal, would you?
- thenomad 10y ago
  I'm very much not a minimalist, but it's worth noting that particularly in the 21st century, a lot of hobbies don't require much stuff. Martial arts, computer games, books, TV, programming, art of various sorts, creativity of various sorts (writing, 3D, digital painting, etc), just off the top of my head.
  - lagadu 10y ago
    I'll have to disagree, even those you listed need a lot of stuff once you really get into them. I'm into 5 of those 7 you listed (the first 5) and of those the only that doesn't need a substantial amount of stuff is books because it's just my Kindle. Between the tv, protective equipment and desktop computer with its screens and case that's a lot of stuff. Unless you consider a mobile phone or a laptop with a teeny tiny screen acceptable for computer games, tv and programming but that means you're not getting very deeply into it. Now that I think of it, these aren't anywhere near my hobbies that take more space/stuff even. For every hobby that doesn't need a lot of stuff, there's one that needs many kgs of equipment.
- 10y ago
noonespecial 10y ago
Minimalism is not having no knives in your kitchen drawer. Minimalism is having one very good knife that works extremely well instead of 10 that work so terribly they never get used "just in case". The poser proudly boasts that they freed their lives from the tyranny of owning knives, but doesn't mention that they substituted eating out all the time for cooking.
- abakker 10y ago
  If you really wanted minimalism, you could get rid of the fridge, too. In its place you could put nothing. (somehow, nobody complains about the tyranny of cold beer, even when they have no other food or utensils in the house)
  - komali2 10y ago
    On the other hand, what kind of electricity savings do you get from not owning a fridge? I'm not really joking - in Taiwan we ditched the fridge and gave up on cooking. Ended up saving ~50$ USD/mo because it turns out it's just cheaper to eat and drink out there than it is to cook in, combined with the fridge and stove electric savings. EDIT: I think it's worth noting that electricity was disproportionately expensive compared to other costs of living when I was there.
    - abakker 10y ago
      Thats neat. I never would have guessed, but with energy star and cheap power in the US (along with having a home that is already cooled), fridges just don't use that much power by comparison. Am I right it assuming that going out was also relatively cheap?
      - komali2 10y ago
        Extremely so. I can't find my spreadsheet but IIRC I could buy Chicken at something like ~1.50 - 2USD/lb, and about ~1/3lb broccoli for like .25USD. So that's 1.75 - 2 for a cooked meal, or I could get a meal at a restaurant for ~.80USD to 1USD. It adds up, especially because I wouldn't just cook chicken and broccoli for every meal, and beef is shockingly expensive in Taiwan.
digi_owl 10y ago
Hmm, minimalism as signaling. Makes me think of how it always seemed that those most in favor of the EU was those that could up and relocate their work to anywhere with a net connection and a credit card terminal.
module0000 10y ago
What this fancy article calls "minimalism", I think anyone who has ever been through basic training is very familiar with. Except it wasn't trendy, fashionable, and certainly not "elite" - it was how you kept your personal area and your belongings unless you wanted a good smoking from your platoon sergeant. Additionally, the more uses you could find for a single item, meant less items for you to hump in your pack on a N-mile road march.
abakker 10y ago
I am not a minimalist. I have many hobbies that require things - cameras, woodworking, metalworking, automotive work, mountain bikes, drones, art, guitar. I have the equipment for all these things, and in many cases, much more specialized equipment for working with or on these things. Need to put a new crankset on your bike? I have the tools for that. Need to do an oil change in a land rover? I have those too. Need to laser engrave some wood, or cut it with a CNC router? yep. Better yet, I do it in San Francisco (I rented a house with a 2 car garage 4 years ago). Minimalism is great, but it makes you either completely dependent on others and services for your everyday needs - cooking, cleaning, repairing, making, hobbies - or means you can't do or have those things. IN cities like SF and NY, I have many friends that just rely on apps and services to get stuff done, and would rather pay the bike shop $100 for a tune up than buy $100 worth of tools and never need to pay for a tune up again. They are often the same friends that are very specialized in their fields or in single hobbies and don't tend to look outside of those things they do well. I reject that philosophy completely. In general, I find minimalism fights with experimentation, creativity, and serendipity. The more you try, and the more you learn, the better off you are, I think. Take this example: I recently bought a drone. I didn't know anything much about drones except for a few reviews before buying one. If I had been a minimalist, I would have considered that a drone would further clutter my office (very cluttered already), and potentially would be hard to resell given how fast the technology advances. My risk then is having a drone I don't like and taking some financial loss on something I didn't enjoy. As someone who is not a minimalist, my worries were that it would be hard to fly, or that I would regret not getting a different drone. As it happens, the latter is true, and I likely will take some financial loss in selling the one I bought, but by happy accident, I am now writing and researching commercial drone use for work and using the drone I have to prepare for getting licensed as a commercial drone pilot. I didn't anticipate there being any connection to my work when I got into it, but because I did I ended up gaining some benefits I wouldn't have otherwise had. (it also turns out that I have most of the equipment from woodworking and metalworking to make my own drones, so I'm looking into that angle as well now).
- davegauer 10y ago
  I'm far from a hoarder, but I still find myself thinking, "what is all this crap?" while cleaning the house. Upon closer examination, much of it is art supplies, tools, and books. These are things which allow me to improve, learn, create, and invent. They enrich my life. I really wouldn't be the same person without the ability to explore my world in this way.
louprado 10y ago
The problem with minimalism is that you can slowly become extreme without realizing. This is partly because society won't stop you from going too far. Saving money, self-sacrifice, and reducing your carbon footprint are societal virtues. However, like most extremes it comes with a price. Primarily isolation and anxiety in this case. Gone are the days where buddies come over to work on motorcycles and cars in your garage. You can also forget about hosting a fun party in your boring minimalist studio. You probably won't have guests at all. And while most people don't think about the impact taking a long flight, as a minimalist that flight may double your carbon footprint leading to anxiety. If you take this path it's up to you to ensure you stay balanced and not pass a tipping point.
freshhawk 10y ago
This is the standard status quo objection to anything counter cultural these days. You can always find a group of people on the internet into the idea in question and stuck in a filter bubble and completely out of touch. For any trend you want to discuss. Yes, our culture is able to apply more social pressure on the poor and disadvantaged to buy status symbols. Encouraging them to ignore the system built to keep them poor by selling them overpriced garbage with lifestyle marketing is the act of an ally. Of course having purchasing habits considered weird in a culture of conspicuous consumption is easier for the privileged. That's what being privileged means, doing anything different is easier. And I'll argue that the minimalism hipsters are a good thing. They are carving out a space where saving money and not engaging in conspicuous consumption carries social status. It would be great news for the disadvantaged and poor if that caught on more. You could apply this argument to getting exercise, eating a healthy diet, having social activities other than watching garbage TV. All done by privileged people, many of whom turn it into performative virtue signaling to get attention and annoy everyone.
- mcguire 10y ago
  But there's many varieties of conspicuous consumption. At least one of these looks very minimal: by not owning things that you need, you signal that you can afford to rent them, or hire someone to do the task, or buy them for one use and then dispose of them. I rather suspect that if you suggested that any of the minimalists described in the article, or those that occasionally pop up elsewhere having discarded their earthly possessions, were trying to save money, then they would be somewhat offended. Or, on the other hand, perhaps they're like Paul Erdős and and somehow psychologically impaired.
ihaveahadron 10y ago
What even is a "minimalist"? Things can be minimalist I don't people can "be" minimalist.
galfarragem 10y ago
'The dose makes the poison.' I would point for a middle ground between minimalism and suburban hoarding: essencialism.
lacampbell 10y ago
I feel compelled to point out the irony of the New York Times calling something an "Oppressive Gospel".
ramblenode 10y ago
I have gradually evolved into a minimalist after years of frequent moving and having realized that many of the things I used to own came with a psychological "weight" that's only fully apparent in the thing's absence. Aside from the practical aspect of anchoring me to a single physical location, having unnecessary things around distracts me and tends to elevate my anxiety. Anyway, this piece strikes me as a critique looking for a cultural phenomenon. Of course most First World minimalists, including myself, realize there is a vast infrastructure supporting the few things we have in our possession. To say otherwise is just a straw man. This isn't the privilege of being a minimalist; it's the privilege of living in a rich and well-connected society. Despite the author elaborating the history of minimalist aesthetics in modern Western culture (which is only superficially related to minimalism as a lifestyle), it has a far richer history than merely "pop philosophy". Minimalism is an important component of philosophies as culturally distant as Cynicism and Buddhism, but none of these even get a nod. To the author's credit, I'm sure it's much harder to write an article about real people than Silicon Valley caricatures upending their lives for a fashion statement or a productivity panacea.
whack 10y ago
Wow. I was expecting to see some logical arguments made against minimalist lifestyles, and what I got instead is a bunch of strawmans and ad hominem. It requires "privilege" to be a minimalist? Seriously? "Internet access" is now worthy of privilege shaming? Is it possible to overdo minimalism? Sure. It's also possible to overdo exercise. It's also possible to overdo generosity and community service. But materialism is a far worse problem than minimalism. If you have an argument to make against minimalism, as practiced by mainstream minimalists, then make it. But attacking it just because it's not a cure-all and because you don't like its advocates, just makes you sound like a petulant child.
akeck 10y ago
In my personal exploration of minimalism, I find being too minimal cuts into resilience (see "Team of Teams"). I've since changed to pursuing "minimal but resilient," which accepts that things wear out or get lost, so you need more than one of some things, and that sometimes not having something used once or twice per year creates a crisis. Finally, in line with the commenter who said deep minimalism depressed them, I also hold onto things that make me happy, even if I don't use them much.
fembot__ 10y ago
I am a millenial that makes decent money and lives in manhattan. The following are true of me: 1) I sold my car when I moved here, and I usually walk or take Uber. 2) I sold many of my clothes when I got here (because my closet is small) and now use Rent the Runway Unlimited to have a revolving supply of designer clothes. 3) I do not have a washer or dryer so I use an app called Cleanly to pick up my clothes, wash, and return them. 4) I do not have a dishwasher or a microwave, so I never bought many dishes/utensils, and I order most meals I eat at home from seamless or PostMates. 5) I don't have a vaccum, a broom, a mop, a dustpan, cleaning supplies, etc so I use an app called Handy that sends a cleaner that has these things to my apartment every two weeks. So, technically I own less things. But only because I can afford to pay to rent them (uber, rent the runway) or pay someone else to make up for not owning them (postmates/cleanly/handy). I imagine that the same is true for many of the people who live the lifestyle the author is describing. So in a way, I can see her point: we're not really minimalist, we're just rich enough to not have to own stuff. But on the other hand, isn't it cool that technology has created a world where I don't have to own all this stuff to have a convenient, clean, fashionable life? I am not even a minimalist but I do think that the aesthetic idea of minimalism has influenced some of the technological advances that have led to some of the most innovative "shared economy" and peer to peer service companies. And if the people who came up with the ideas for these apps want to live in a white apartment with succulents, who cares?
- existencebox 10y ago
  Hey; honest question for you (don't mean this in the pejorative sense) How much does that cost you on a month to month basis? I have no point of reference due to living out in the burbs but my knee jerk is "jesus that must cost so much overhead" and I'd like to see if that's a false assumption or not. For level playing field/full disclosure, my list looks something like: 1. Car costs: ~40$/month for gas (mostly bus), 20k amortized over 10 years of ownership ~160$/month (assuming no major maitanance, given how little I drive) 2. Clothes: ~20$/month (assuming I spend <100$ yearly on clothes which is probably accurate, probably avg. 1 pair of shoes + one full outfit a year, and that's likely a high estimate) 3. Washer/dryer: This one is hard since it's merged with the water/power bill, but as a point of reference I pay about 100$ water and 120$ power monthly for a 3b2b house. 4. See above re: utilities, food probably comes to ~200$ per month buying at costco (two trips monthly of ~150-200 each for the wife and I) 5. Cleaning: "free" (time isn't free yadda yadda) All together probably between 650-700$ monthly on non-mortgage necessities, the largest portions of which are car+utilities+groceries in relatively even thirds, which is a hard bar to push lower for me so I'm looking for ways to be creative. :)
WalterBright 10y ago
I'm a hoarder by nature, I have a hard time getting rid of old magazines and broken VCRs. But I'm not a minimalist, either, I need tools (for example) to work on my car and other projects that I enjoy. Look for me on a future episode of "Hoarding: Buried Alive".
- Aloha 10y ago
  At least you're being honest with yourself about it.
- mcguire 10y ago
  Hi! My name is mcguire and my decorating tastes go toward a bewildering array of things poorly organized. I'm practically a Victorian. Except for taxidermy. I don't decorate with dead animals.
edblarney 10y ago
My grandfather was born on a farm, but started a lumber yard and was eventually very wealthy. He grew all his own vegetables and probably did not know what 'organic' meant. He made solar panels to heat the water in his store, but 'green' was just a colour to him. He made preserves every year, but wouldn't know what the word 'hipster' meant. He was pretty 'minimalist' and probably had never even heard the word in his life. I think he would have called himself 'frugal' if you really pushed him to, that said, he was just the same as everyone else around him ...
kwoff 10y ago
one of the most pretentious, millennial comment sections I've ever seen here - please downvote me to minimize my karma or whatever it is you idiots overvalue
usmeteora 10y ago
As another comment, I think the author of this article is confusing the decorative products the resulting fashion trend that minimalism has created with the actual lifestyle and the improvements it provides for people where time, efficiency and reduced mental clutter and life clutter is of the essence. Not everyone buying minimalist wallart from urbanoutfitters and posting it on instagram is necessarily representative of people who have organized their thoughts time, schedule, social life, work life and have a resulting apartment decor that represents that.
munchbunny 10y ago
I think there's a bit of a problem on both sides of this discussion in a way that is missing the forest for the trees. Then again, I'm only talking about the "finding happiness" angle of the discussion and not so much the question of aesthetics or design. If your goal is to improve your quality of life, then there are two guidelines that I think are generally applicable. There are other ideas like "earn more money," but that's an external process and I wanted to focus on the internal processes: 1. Practice mindfulness, especially appreciation for both the big things and small things. 2. Learn not to depend on unimportant things for happiness (aka fear of missing out). These things are often possessions, activities, or even relationships. Generally as you do both of those things more, you feel less of a desire for non-essential physical possessions. It shouldn't be about trying to see how minimal you can go. It should be about finding happiness internally, and as a consequence not depending on a cultural performance (gadgets and fashion are common examples) for validation or identity. In that sense I think the decluttering movement (I'm aware the article isn't just about decluttering) has things kind of backwards. Removing distractions is good, but if you don't learn the underlying lesson about mindfulness, then you'll just end up emotionally dependent on something else, like seeing just how much you can throw away. The broader point is that minimalism (in the lifestyle sense, not the product design sense) isn't an end. It should be a result of learning to appreciate what is essential, not a result of removing everything until you think you've found what is essential. Some people might learn the first from doing the second, but not everyone does. I've seen friends get lost in the act of trying to simplify their lives, only to not end up any happier because they forgot to learn to appreciate what was left.
chdupont 10y ago
The article says minimalism is in reality about consuming more, but I don't see it explaining why. Did I miss something? Also, minimalist lifestyle and minimalist aesthetics are certainly different things. I have been into minimalism (the lifestyle) for about a year or so, reading a lot about it, so here is my summary of it: it is an optimization tool among others, kind of like code refactoring. In my case it helped me focus on what's important (family, passions), have more energy and more time. And believe me, when you have a young child, you need as much time and energy as possible. Less stuff is less useless stuff, all fun, meaningful or useful stuff is still there, I just spend less time and energy making decisions about what to wear, cleaning and tidying stuff, etc. Less distractions is less meaningless distractions, by all means I have more fun spending time with my family than playing video games. Knowing from experience that my family and me don't need much to be happy is extremely important and gives me confidence to face the future. Our financial situation is not so good, but I know that we can still do great whatever happens. On the same topic, if you know you can do well with not so much, you are less afraid to take risks, for example starting a business.
mschillemore 10y ago
I think some of you have missed the point on minimalism.... Buy, own, keep things that you love and need. If you enjoy having a cozy rug in your bedroom under your desk while you work because it brings you joy and happiness then you should own one! If you have guests over often and having them sit on your bed bothers you, makes you embarrassed; buy a small functional couch. Don't buy excess amounts of things; buy what you need and love. If you do art often, it's a passion, etc then it's OK to own a closet or cupboard with supplies. Take care of what you own, invest in quality items that will last, and make sure it's something you love, use and need.

111 points by prismatic 10y ago

hmm 1. Addressing the claim that minimalism is for the elite, I think its a result for people who have the luxury of time and money to take a thorough look at their life needs, have the time and structure in their life to have long term goals and then organize their life to fit those goals and optimize their things around their life which is centered around a busy work schedule. Absolutely, if you are a poor refugee you are making ends meet from day to day. you are not organizing kitchen ware, you are at Salvation Army buying clothing for your children and just as you have a spare $60 in your paycheck your sons discount coat's zipper is broken in the middle of winter so you need to buy a new one, but you only have $60, ha probably a fraction of that to figure out a solution. You are not on Amazon finding a long term investment triple wool down Northface jacket that is light yet warm and will last your son until college. It is true that it takes time, organization and a higher initial capital to invest in long term sustainable products that are planned in advance to meet a lifestyle you have planned, but that does not mean its arrogant. There will be people who aspire, just like they aspire to every "trend" to emulate this hoping to fit in with an image as a result, but it's not fair rational or logical to assign the whole group of people to that when the pioneers of this in technology ended up living this life as a RESULT of trying to optimize their life, not deciding in advance this is what they wanted. It ended up that optimizing your life helps you work more, live more organized and have less hiccups in life when time and efficiency is of the essence. 2. It's also not fair to assume the same people who had wealth 50 years ago living in mansions and lavish wealth are the same genre of people who have "dissavowed the advantages that helped them obtain wealth". The people using this lifestyle mostly in technology are new people creating new wealth and were never associated nor did they grow up with the lavish lifestyle they are supposedly disavowing. Steve jobs started his company in a garage and basically always lived out of his backpack, and the saying goes he didnt even leave the office long enough to unpack into his new place for months after going back to Apple. Is that arrogance of just living efficiently and not putting trinkets and pictures on your wall to stare at while youre on the couch because youre never on the couch? 3. Personally, I've gone minimalist as a result of being a tech graduate with student loans so constrained money, and also not knowing if I'm going to be living on the east coast or west coast in two years. I have a very minimalist apartment and everything I buy I base the quality of whether it's something I'm willing to ship across the country in the next few years or something I am fine to give away when it's time to move 3,000 miles, and in general most of the time I decide not to buy it at all. I am not doing this so I can take minimalist photos on instagram of my blank living room apartment, I'm doing it because for my lfie style, clutter is a result of downtime not scraping by on day to day needs like refugees which I totally sympathize with but my minimalism is not arrogant or looking down on them, it's how I choose to live life for me, not to put my nose up to poor people, and not to tag it on instagram. This article is not even journalism, it's opinion with barely any facts excepts the numerical results for clicking the "minimalism" hashtag on instagram. This is also entirely leaving out that given the housing crisis and the economy, people in their 20s like me, my generation has way less trust in stocks, the economy and the promise of the American Dream aka owning a house with a wife a 2 kids (given college is outrageously expensive and the divorce rate and broken families of this country is outrageous as well and the finances associated with it that atleast half of us in this country grew up wtinessing first hand), and companies do massive layoffs and on average people in my generation switch jobs every 7 years as opposed to more than double that 20 years ago. We are economically incentivized to be mobile and adept learners so electronics aid us in that, not houses and long term relationships that lock us into a lifetime of financial debt if they don't work out. I think this is the most valid reason why it catches on regardless of the elite few who initiated the lifestyle out of in my opinion efficiency not arrogance, yet the composer of this article is like "maybe its this" in one sentence (referring to the summarized version of everything I've said in Part 3) or maybe its arrogance and pomposity and spends the majority of the article on that, and then refers to the "elite few" to blame for this instead of the usual mass of people who are always going to jump on anything trendy.

AnimalMuppet 10y ago
> Addressing the claim that minimalism is for the elite, I think its a result for people who have the luxury of time and money to take a thorough look at their life needs, have the time and structure in their life to have long term goals and then organize their life to fit those goals and optimize their things around their life which is centered around a busy work schedule. There is a component of elitism here. If you're poor, you hang on to stuff, because it may come in handy. If you have enough money and some left over, you can get rid of stuff, because if it turns out you really needed one of the things you got rid of, you can buy a new one. But if you can't afford the new one, you keep stuff "just in case". But, even if minimalism may require a certain level of financial not-on-the-edge, for many of us, it's not a pose. For myself, I just hate clutter. As Paul Graham said, a cluttered scene takes more mental energy to parse. If there's enough clutter that you have to move around stuff, it takes more physical energy just to walk across the room. I don't have time in my life for that kind of waste.
- madamelic 10y ago
  >If you're poor, you hang on to stuff, because it may come in handy. If you have enough money and some left over, you can get rid of stuff, because if it turns out you really needed one of the things you got rid of, you can buy a new one. But if you can't afford the new one, you keep stuff "just in case". Yep! This is my exact argument for why minimalism works well for more well-off people. If you can afford to buy a $3 screwdriver again, why keep it around if you only use it once a year. It is just clutter. There is another argument of using Craigslist as storage (sell what you don't need, buy it back when you need it). It also relies on having free money to be able to do such a thing though.
  - jff 10y ago
    Or, or, OR, I can just keep a toolbox in the garage instead of spending an hour+ searching craigslist and meeting some dude in a 7/11 parking lot every time I need to tighten a fucking screw!
    - 10y ago

sosuke 10y ago

How is bird watching like minimalism or paleo? I love bird watching but completely miss the connection. What is the "material purge" of bird watching?

bhauer 10y ago
I don't personally agree with the author's point, or the article in general, but my reading of that sentence was a suggestion that all three are things that the practitioners talk about at length. Each is a lifestyle choice or hobby that people like telling others about. Another example is CrossFit.
avsbst 10y ago
While I disagree with the author, I believe his intent was to claim that bird watchers, Paleo dieters and minimalists are similar in that talking about their respective activities is just as important as participating in it. "And, as with watching birds or going Paleo, talking about [minimalism] is just as important as actually doing it."
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mikestew 10y ago
"And, as with watching birds or going Paleo, talking about the material purge is just as important as actually doing it." The implication is that, like your friends who "went Paleo" or your CrossFit buddy, bird watchers will...not...shut up about it. But I don't think I've ever known a single person in my relatively long life that would go on and on about bird watching, so I don't get the comparison, either.
- Aqueous 10y ago
  But I don't think I've ever known a single person in my relatively long life that would go on and on about bird watching In contrast, all the people I've known who go on and on about bird-watching have been single.

l33tbro 10y ago

>The fetishized austerity and performative asceticism of minimalism is a kind of ongoing cultural sickness. It's hardly more than a design trend. Similar to naturalism in the 1970's, when the walls of your home and your television set had a wooden finish. >We misinterpret material renunciation, austere aesthetics and blank, emptied spaces as symbols of capitalist absolution, when these trends really just provide us with further ways to serve our impulse to consume more, not less. Not really. It's more the fact that a guy called Steve Jobs reanimated a dying computer business into a global mega-cult, wholeheartedly embracing and thereby popularizing ideas of people like Dieter Rams. While some alternatives to minimalism would be nice, I think what the author is (rightly) dissatisfied with is our economic system and the exchange of goods, not the actual way in which those goods are selected and consumed.

ktRolster 10y ago
Similar to naturalism in the 1970's, when the walls of your home and your television set had a wooden finish. Oh, I always wondered why that was. Now I know why, the aesthetic trend of naturalism.
mitchty 10y ago
> Not really. It's more the fact that a guy called Steve Jobs reanimated a dying computer business into a global mega-cult, wholeheartedly embracing and thereby popularizing ideas of people like Dieter Rams. I suppose thats one way to look at it, but a counter example. I'm getting into hardware debugging/hacking/etc... so I've a need for an oscilloscope and a logic analyzer. I could get an el cheapo oscilloscope for about $450, and a logic analyzer for about another 400. But then both of these are separate, and the logic analyzer depends on my computer as well. So instead, I'm saving up for a Rohde and Schwarz MSO oscilloscope that while much more expensive at about ~$3,000 with all the options, takes up less space and does everything. (it also has no fan which i'm huge on) Yes this is arguably minimalism, but i'd argue the trend is more rooted in modernism of the 20's. I'll spend more to reduce clutter, I don't really have a glut of space in which to put it all.
LordHumungous 10y ago
I do often wonder if exposed beams and varnished concrete floors will be as ridiculous to people in 2030 as shag carpets and faux wood paneling are to us today.

abritinthebay 10y ago

This is an impressive rant but it is pretty rambling and incoherent for the most part. Minimalism advocates can be dogmatic and that tends to be bad, but taking cues from minimalism isn't a bad thing when it makes something better. Will it be better for all time? Probably not, but that's ok.

mrec 10y ago

I've seen this "minimalism == privileged posing" line of argument a few times now. It may be fair in many cases, but I think there's another angle that never seems to get mentioned: I'd guess that a disproportionate number of these "posers" live in tech hubs like SF, NY or London. In places like that, owning stuff may simply be unaffordable, not because the stuff itself is unaffordable but because space to put it is unaffordable. That is, they may be cash-rich but space-poor, whereas the stereotypical rural redneck with 3 old cars up on bricks in the front yard for spares may be cash-poor but space-rich. You can call this "sour grapes" or "making a virtue of necessity", depending on how generous you're feeling, but I think there's more to it than just posing.

maxxxxx 10y ago
I just wish they would write about it only a few years after they have started to go minimalist and have actually lived it. There are so many articles who write how great being minimalist is two weeks after they have sold their car or whatever.
- bovermyer 10y ago
  Conor McMillen does this.
- mikestew 10y ago
  I've been wondering about this as well. Looking back, I guess I've always been kind "minimalist" (before it was cool, suckers). Liked running because less equipment. Went years without a car in Indianapolis where public transit was such a joke as to be almost non-existent. Seldom keep things around for "sentimental value". I just don't want things hanging around that take up space or need attention unless they serve some regular utility. (And for the record, my wife and I suck at being "minimalist", but we do put up a good fight. But no one's going to look in our garage and mistake us for Buddhist monks.) But you have to keep constantly vigilant. Much like training for a marathon, where every day has at least some portion of it taken up by training, each meal involves making good decisions, and kiss your Sundays goodbye because you won't be doing much after that 20 mile run other than taking a nap. The minimalist weighs every potential purchase, has to figure out to get to that party without a car, has to figure out how to cook supper with a single spork. And like anything that takes up a significant portion of your day, you'll talk about it...constantly. At least for the first marathon. After that, you realize that no one else cares but you, so you learn to dial it back. So like Paleo, CrossFit, and marathons, let's circle back in a few year as you suggest and see how it's going once the novelty wears off. Because all of the chatter of "minimalism" strikes me as n00bs all fired up about their new "hobby", and they'll quiet down when the new wears off and they want to watch a movie on something bigger than 10".

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Luc 10y ago

'I don't like something other people like. Now I must find every way possible to rationalize my dislike, and use lots of adjectives doing so!'

mcguire 10y ago
That's ok. They don't like what you like, either, and are perfectly happy to explain why in detail.

pavs 10y ago

I get very easily distracted with things in my life. Both online and offline. So I tried minimalistic lifestyle a shot, which to me basically means to get rid of anything that I don't really need but just taking a space in my life and simply get rid of it. It took a long time over 4 months and I am still working on chucking things out of my life. I can honestly say that it made life so much better, I feel less cluttered in my mind. I have better concentration and I feel more productive instead of doing busy-work throughout the day. It might not work for everyone, but it works for me.

madamelic 10y ago
I think there is nothing wrong with striving to be minimalistic but I think getting competitively minimalist or even encouraging others to hit some point (throw out 1 thing, then 2, then 50... then 60...) is a little silly. Clearing your mind and physical space is something every one should strive for in my opinion but there is no use in this ultimate minimalism where you are living with no furniture.

jdmoreira 10y ago

I didn't get into minimalism as a fad or even something I read on the web. I simply moved to another country and could only bring what would fit in my suitcase. As a result I got rid of a lot of the stuff I had accumulated during my life, I got rid of almost everything I owned. As soon as I did it, I was overwhelmed with a sensation of freedom and peace of mind that I can't compare to anything else. Another major simplification I've done was to dress almost the same everyday. I own multiple items of the same clothes. All my tshirts are the same, all my socks/underwear are the same. I also buy the same shoes and jeans again and again. I look better and I feel much better! I also quit all social media except LinkedIn and HN and stopped reading the news. The thing I'll try next is to eat the same meals everyday. Maybe it won't work but I'll try it. I would also like to live in a bedroom with not much more than a futon and a desk. But it's going to be hard because my girlfriend doesn't share my enthusiasm. This is anecdotal, take it with skepticism if you want, but I regard this changes as some of the best decisions I made in my life.

sndean 10y ago
> I would also like to live in a bedroom with not much more than a futon and a desk. But it's going to be hard because my girlfriend doesn't share my enthusiasm At least in my n=1 experience, it's not that bad. Just have to accept that 99% of the stuff will be your girlfriend's. One positive is that she'll have difficult time complaining to you that you need to clean up, since it'll always be her mess.
- throwanem 10y ago
  > One positive is that she'll have difficult time complaining to you that you need to clean up, since it'll always be her mess. In my n=1 experience, this is an assumption that won't necessarily be borne out in practice.
ChillyWater 10y ago
I'm thinking you would want to keep batting around the cycle of various meals. Seems like you wouldn't get the full nutrient coverage with only one or two (or five) different meals. Sometimes I really crave a salad with a bunch of vegetables. Sometimes I crave meat. Makes me think my body knows something.

jasoncchild 10y ago

Minimalism via choice vs via circumstance :)

uberstuber 10y ago

There's aesthetic minimalism and lifestyle minimalism. These two can overlap but often they clash, and are largely different movements. I'm trying to figure out why minimalism gets such a negative reaction from people. Is it because aesthetic minimalism is too popular on instagram/tumblr, and now it's cool to hate on the popular thing? No one's forcing you to get rid of your stuff, no one's forcing you to read minimalism blogs.

twblalock 10y ago
The negative reaction generally comes from the implied (or sometimes explicit) argument from minimalists that everyone else is some kind of slave to their possessions, consumerist sheep, etc.
- hosh 10y ago
  I'm not a minimalist, but I'll be explicit. Pretty much 99% (I made that number up; pretty much everyone) of the people are controlled by impulses and confuse them for their real selves. I have seen people who identify themselves as minimalist do the same -- though they might be a slave to an idea rather than to a physical object. I've seen myself slip into that frame from time to time. Depending on who I talk to about this, I might get a thoughtful response, or an angry response. But yeah, unless you are going to be impeccably honest about yourself, you're likely to be a slave to your possession and a consumerist sheep and don't know it. Yet at the same time, within each person, buried under all those layers of consumerist sheep, is an amazing being. It is rare for someone to actualize that, but it's there. If you pay attention, you can see it. And it has nothing to do with your tastes, likes, wants, desires, fears, ambitions, goals, passions, possessions, profession, race, gender, creed, politics, morality, or personality for that matter. This amazing self has nothing to do with the conditioned or social self. And for some reason, people get offended when I dismiss their conditioned self. For me, it is, "hey, look at this amazing being underneath all of that," and the response is, "How dare you! I like my conditioned self just fine, thank you." "Uh, sure, ok..."
  - abakker 10y ago

LordHumungous 10y ago

One problem I have with this article is that it treats minimalism as something new. Minimalism has recurred throughout history, from Buddhist philosophy, to the Roman stoics, to medieval Christian monks, to Japanese culture, to Islamic art, to modernist art. Taste seems to oscillate between baroque and minimalist. It's not surprising that minimalism is in vogue during the current age of internet driven over-stimulation.

hosh 10y ago
This is the wrong frame to look at it. If you are conceiving of minimalism as aesthetic taste, you miss the whole point of the Buddhist and Stoics, or any of the ascetic practices. The contents of your living area is a reflection of the contents of your mind. Memories inside of you are attached to the external objects. A disorganized room tends to be a reflection of a disorganized mind. I've seen myself and others leave trash on the floor for months, because it is anchored to some piece of trash internally that one is reluctant to get rid of. This stuff has more to do with your experience as a consciousness rather than social signaling. The article here, and many of the comments here discusses minimalism as social signaling. Yet the people who originated the ascetic practices got rid of stuff not as a response to social trends, but as part of their personal practice to pare away the wrapping in their _consciousness_ and find their true selves. Going against the social grain is a powerful way to detach your identification. Yet if you blindly follow minimalism or boroque as a social trend because other people are, then you're still jumping from one attachment to the next.
api 10y ago
Your last point is one I don't see mentioned often enough: minimalism as rebellion against over-stimulation and cognitive overload.

hosh 10y ago

I once talked to a guy who thought of himself as Zen / minimalist -- and thought I was too. Minimalism isn't a thing for me. It's not a sense of aesthetics, though I do like the ascetic and pared-down aesthetic ... but also the decadent and baroque of Victorian and steampunk. What I do and what I am got confused with minimalism because I actually practice meditation, and I actually know what kind of effect things, objects, emotions, thoughts, and narratives have on the psyche. Minimalism, when it becomes a a thing one identifies with, as a form of social signaling, and as a form of narrative about yourself tells me that that person is no longer practicing impeccably. "Do you own the object or does the object own you?" still applies even if you become obsessed with minimalism. You might have purged a number of consumer goods out of your life, and yet the very _idea_ of minimalism continues to possess and obsess you. It has never been about getting every little thing out of your life. It's sufficient for it to reveal enough of your truer self. It's about shedding your social identities, not heaping ostentation upon more ostentation.

jondiggsit 10y ago

Remove the "ism" here. It's not a damn philosophy or religious movement. What people basically want is simplification in an ever increasing world of sensory overload. That's it folks.

ctdonath 10y ago
Speak for yourself. Such simplification has long been a critical step in achieving philosophical or religious ideals.

c3534l 10y ago

I don't think lifestyle minimalism is new. Read Walden where Henry David Thoreau tries to live a life as simple as possible. A far better critique and analysis than this essay.

ctdonath 10y ago
Modern equivalent to recommend: The Man Who Quit Money. While few of us will ever go quite that far, it is an intriguing study of how far one can go in minimizing, and the costs & benefits of doing so.

twblalock 10y ago

Minimalists who spend significant time thinking about minimalism and discussing it on online forums are just as obsessed about their possessions as the people they criticize. The only difference is that minimalists obsess about having fewer possessions, and the people they criticize obsess about having more. People who are truly unburdened by their possessions do not need to spend much time thinking about them.

iamleppert 10y ago

Don't these people have any hobbies or interests? Hobbies and interests, a personality, dare I might say, require "stuff". You develop a sense of style, and you get things around you that help to describe and tell your story in life. I don't understand the people that are content with this kind of self-imposed "I can do with just the bare essentials" lifestyle. Unless you're traveling, or doing something of that nature, I am generally distrustful of people who can be gone in an hour. There's something about this kind of lifestyle (I've known several minimalist people well) that is synonymous with fear of commitment and general instability in their life. A lot of people I met have adopted the lifestyle because it's a learned behavoir from either years of instability, an off-beat childhood, or some kind of abusive relationship. Human beings need stuff around them, and it's perfectly normal to accumulate stuff if you've lived somewhere any length of time. On the other end of the spectrum of minimalism would of course be hoarding. Not saying that either lifestyle is "bad", but you wouldn't call hoarding exactly normal, would you?

thenomad 10y ago
I'm very much not a minimalist, but it's worth noting that particularly in the 21st century, a lot of hobbies don't require much stuff. Martial arts, computer games, books, TV, programming, art of various sorts, creativity of various sorts (writing, 3D, digital painting, etc), just off the top of my head.
- lagadu 10y ago
  I'll have to disagree, even those you listed need a lot of stuff once you really get into them. I'm into 5 of those 7 you listed (the first 5) and of those the only that doesn't need a substantial amount of stuff is books because it's just my Kindle. Between the tv, protective equipment and desktop computer with its screens and case that's a lot of stuff. Unless you consider a mobile phone or a laptop with a teeny tiny screen acceptable for computer games, tv and programming but that means you're not getting very deeply into it. Now that I think of it, these aren't anywhere near my hobbies that take more space/stuff even. For every hobby that doesn't need a lot of stuff, there's one that needs many kgs of equipment.
10y ago

noonespecial 10y ago

Minimalism is not having no knives in your kitchen drawer. Minimalism is having one very good knife that works extremely well instead of 10 that work so terribly they never get used "just in case". The poser proudly boasts that they freed their lives from the tyranny of owning knives, but doesn't mention that they substituted eating out all the time for cooking.

abakker 10y ago
If you really wanted minimalism, you could get rid of the fridge, too. In its place you could put nothing. (somehow, nobody complains about the tyranny of cold beer, even when they have no other food or utensils in the house)
- komali2 10y ago
  On the other hand, what kind of electricity savings do you get from not owning a fridge? I'm not really joking - in Taiwan we ditched the fridge and gave up on cooking. Ended up saving ~50$ USD/mo because it turns out it's just cheaper to eat and drink out there than it is to cook in, combined with the fridge and stove electric savings. EDIT: I think it's worth noting that electricity was disproportionately expensive compared to other costs of living when I was there.
  - abakker 10y ago
    Thats neat. I never would have guessed, but with energy star and cheap power in the US (along with having a home that is already cooled), fridges just don't use that much power by comparison. Am I right it assuming that going out was also relatively cheap?
    - komali2 10y ago
      Extremely so. I can't find my spreadsheet but IIRC I could buy Chicken at something like ~1.50 - 2USD/lb, and about ~1/3lb broccoli for like .25USD. So that's 1.75 - 2 for a cooked meal, or I could get a meal at a restaurant for ~.80USD to 1USD. It adds up, especially because I wouldn't just cook chicken and broccoli for every meal, and beef is shockingly expensive in Taiwan.

digi_owl 10y ago

Hmm, minimalism as signaling. Makes me think of how it always seemed that those most in favor of the EU was those that could up and relocate their work to anywhere with a net connection and a credit card terminal.

module0000 10y ago

What this fancy article calls "minimalism", I think anyone who has ever been through basic training is very familiar with. Except it wasn't trendy, fashionable, and certainly not "elite" - it was how you kept your personal area and your belongings unless you wanted a good smoking from your platoon sergeant. Additionally, the more uses you could find for a single item, meant less items for you to hump in your pack on a N-mile road march.

abakker 10y ago

I am not a minimalist. I have many hobbies that require things - cameras, woodworking, metalworking, automotive work, mountain bikes, drones, art, guitar. I have the equipment for all these things, and in many cases, much more specialized equipment for working with or on these things. Need to put a new crankset on your bike? I have the tools for that. Need to do an oil change in a land rover? I have those too. Need to laser engrave some wood, or cut it with a CNC router? yep. Better yet, I do it in San Francisco (I rented a house with a 2 car garage 4 years ago). Minimalism is great, but it makes you either completely dependent on others and services for your everyday needs - cooking, cleaning, repairing, making, hobbies - or means you can't do or have those things. IN cities like SF and NY, I have many friends that just rely on apps and services to get stuff done, and would rather pay the bike shop $100 for a tune up than buy $100 worth of tools and never need to pay for a tune up again. They are often the same friends that are very specialized in their fields or in single hobbies and don't tend to look outside of those things they do well. I reject that philosophy completely. In general, I find minimalism fights with experimentation, creativity, and serendipity. The more you try, and the more you learn, the better off you are, I think. Take this example: I recently bought a drone. I didn't know anything much about drones except for a few reviews before buying one. If I had been a minimalist, I would have considered that a drone would further clutter my office (very cluttered already), and potentially would be hard to resell given how fast the technology advances. My risk then is having a drone I don't like and taking some financial loss on something I didn't enjoy. As someone who is not a minimalist, my worries were that it would be hard to fly, or that I would regret not getting a different drone. As it happens, the latter is true, and I likely will take some financial loss in selling the one I bought, but by happy accident, I am now writing and researching commercial drone use for work and using the drone I have to prepare for getting licensed as a commercial drone pilot. I didn't anticipate there being any connection to my work when I got into it, but because I did I ended up gaining some benefits I wouldn't have otherwise had. (it also turns out that I have most of the equipment from woodworking and metalworking to make my own drones, so I'm looking into that angle as well now).

davegauer 10y ago
I'm far from a hoarder, but I still find myself thinking, "what is all this crap?" while cleaning the house. Upon closer examination, much of it is art supplies, tools, and books. These are things which allow me to improve, learn, create, and invent. They enrich my life. I really wouldn't be the same person without the ability to explore my world in this way.

louprado 10y ago

The problem with minimalism is that you can slowly become extreme without realizing. This is partly because society won't stop you from going too far. Saving money, self-sacrifice, and reducing your carbon footprint are societal virtues. However, like most extremes it comes with a price. Primarily isolation and anxiety in this case. Gone are the days where buddies come over to work on motorcycles and cars in your garage. You can also forget about hosting a fun party in your boring minimalist studio. You probably won't have guests at all. And while most people don't think about the impact taking a long flight, as a minimalist that flight may double your carbon footprint leading to anxiety. If you take this path it's up to you to ensure you stay balanced and not pass a tipping point.

freshhawk 10y ago

This is the standard status quo objection to anything counter cultural these days. You can always find a group of people on the internet into the idea in question and stuck in a filter bubble and completely out of touch. For any trend you want to discuss. Yes, our culture is able to apply more social pressure on the poor and disadvantaged to buy status symbols. Encouraging them to ignore the system built to keep them poor by selling them overpriced garbage with lifestyle marketing is the act of an ally. Of course having purchasing habits considered weird in a culture of conspicuous consumption is easier for the privileged. That's what being privileged means, doing anything different is easier. And I'll argue that the minimalism hipsters are a good thing. They are carving out a space where saving money and not engaging in conspicuous consumption carries social status. It would be great news for the disadvantaged and poor if that caught on more. You could apply this argument to getting exercise, eating a healthy diet, having social activities other than watching garbage TV. All done by privileged people, many of whom turn it into performative virtue signaling to get attention and annoy everyone.

mcguire 10y ago
But there's many varieties of conspicuous consumption. At least one of these looks very minimal: by not owning things that you need, you signal that you can afford to rent them, or hire someone to do the task, or buy them for one use and then dispose of them. I rather suspect that if you suggested that any of the minimalists described in the article, or those that occasionally pop up elsewhere having discarded their earthly possessions, were trying to save money, then they would be somewhat offended. Or, on the other hand, perhaps they're like Paul Erdős and and somehow psychologically impaired.

ihaveahadron 10y ago

What even is a "minimalist"? Things can be minimalist I don't people can "be" minimalist.

galfarragem 10y ago

'The dose makes the poison.' I would point for a middle ground between minimalism and suburban hoarding: essencialism.

lacampbell 10y ago

I feel compelled to point out the irony of the New York Times calling something an "Oppressive Gospel".

ramblenode 10y ago

I have gradually evolved into a minimalist after years of frequent moving and having realized that many of the things I used to own came with a psychological "weight" that's only fully apparent in the thing's absence. Aside from the practical aspect of anchoring me to a single physical location, having unnecessary things around distracts me and tends to elevate my anxiety. Anyway, this piece strikes me as a critique looking for a cultural phenomenon. Of course most First World minimalists, including myself, realize there is a vast infrastructure supporting the few things we have in our possession. To say otherwise is just a straw man. This isn't the privilege of being a minimalist; it's the privilege of living in a rich and well-connected society. Despite the author elaborating the history of minimalist aesthetics in modern Western culture (which is only superficially related to minimalism as a lifestyle), it has a far richer history than merely "pop philosophy". Minimalism is an important component of philosophies as culturally distant as Cynicism and Buddhism, but none of these even get a nod. To the author's credit, I'm sure it's much harder to write an article about real people than Silicon Valley caricatures upending their lives for a fashion statement or a productivity panacea.

whack 10y ago

Wow. I was expecting to see some logical arguments made against minimalist lifestyles, and what I got instead is a bunch of strawmans and ad hominem. It requires "privilege" to be a minimalist? Seriously? "Internet access" is now worthy of privilege shaming? Is it possible to overdo minimalism? Sure. It's also possible to overdo exercise. It's also possible to overdo generosity and community service. But materialism is a far worse problem than minimalism. If you have an argument to make against minimalism, as practiced by mainstream minimalists, then make it. But attacking it just because it's not a cure-all and because you don't like its advocates, just makes you sound like a petulant child.

akeck 10y ago

In my personal exploration of minimalism, I find being too minimal cuts into resilience (see "Team of Teams"). I've since changed to pursuing "minimal but resilient," which accepts that things wear out or get lost, so you need more than one of some things, and that sometimes not having something used once or twice per year creates a crisis. Finally, in line with the commenter who said deep minimalism depressed them, I also hold onto things that make me happy, even if I don't use them much.

fembot__ 10y ago

I am a millenial that makes decent money and lives in manhattan. The following are true of me: 1) I sold my car when I moved here, and I usually walk or take Uber. 2) I sold many of my clothes when I got here (because my closet is small) and now use Rent the Runway Unlimited to have a revolving supply of designer clothes. 3) I do not have a washer or dryer so I use an app called Cleanly to pick up my clothes, wash, and return them. 4) I do not have a dishwasher or a microwave, so I never bought many dishes/utensils, and I order most meals I eat at home from seamless or PostMates. 5) I don't have a vaccum, a broom, a mop, a dustpan, cleaning supplies, etc so I use an app called Handy that sends a cleaner that has these things to my apartment every two weeks. So, technically I own less things. But only because I can afford to pay to rent them (uber, rent the runway) or pay someone else to make up for not owning them (postmates/cleanly/handy). I imagine that the same is true for many of the people who live the lifestyle the author is describing. So in a way, I can see her point: we're not really minimalist, we're just rich enough to not have to own stuff. But on the other hand, isn't it cool that technology has created a world where I don't have to own all this stuff to have a convenient, clean, fashionable life? I am not even a minimalist but I do think that the aesthetic idea of minimalism has influenced some of the technological advances that have led to some of the most innovative "shared economy" and peer to peer service companies. And if the people who came up with the ideas for these apps want to live in a white apartment with succulents, who cares?

existencebox 10y ago
Hey; honest question for you (don't mean this in the pejorative sense) How much does that cost you on a month to month basis? I have no point of reference due to living out in the burbs but my knee jerk is "jesus that must cost so much overhead" and I'd like to see if that's a false assumption or not. For level playing field/full disclosure, my list looks something like: 1. Car costs: ~40$/month for gas (mostly bus), 20k amortized over 10 years of ownership ~160$/month (assuming no major maitanance, given how little I drive) 2. Clothes: ~20$/month (assuming I spend <100$ yearly on clothes which is probably accurate, probably avg. 1 pair of shoes + one full outfit a year, and that's likely a high estimate) 3. Washer/dryer: This one is hard since it's merged with the water/power bill, but as a point of reference I pay about 100$ water and 120$ power monthly for a 3b2b house. 4. See above re: utilities, food probably comes to ~200$ per month buying at costco (two trips monthly of ~150-200 each for the wife and I) 5. Cleaning: "free" (time isn't free yadda yadda) All together probably between 650-700$ monthly on non-mortgage necessities, the largest portions of which are car+utilities+groceries in relatively even thirds, which is a hard bar to push lower for me so I'm looking for ways to be creative. :)

WalterBright 10y ago

I'm a hoarder by nature, I have a hard time getting rid of old magazines and broken VCRs. But I'm not a minimalist, either, I need tools (for example) to work on my car and other projects that I enjoy. Look for me on a future episode of "Hoarding: Buried Alive".

Aloha 10y ago
At least you're being honest with yourself about it.
mcguire 10y ago
Hi! My name is mcguire and my decorating tastes go toward a bewildering array of things poorly organized. I'm practically a Victorian. Except for taxidermy. I don't decorate with dead animals.

edblarney 10y ago

My grandfather was born on a farm, but started a lumber yard and was eventually very wealthy. He grew all his own vegetables and probably did not know what 'organic' meant. He made solar panels to heat the water in his store, but 'green' was just a colour to him. He made preserves every year, but wouldn't know what the word 'hipster' meant. He was pretty 'minimalist' and probably had never even heard the word in his life. I think he would have called himself 'frugal' if you really pushed him to, that said, he was just the same as everyone else around him ...

kwoff 10y ago

one of the most pretentious, millennial comment sections I've ever seen here - please downvote me to minimize my karma or whatever it is you idiots overvalue

usmeteora 10y ago

As another comment, I think the author of this article is confusing the decorative products the resulting fashion trend that minimalism has created with the actual lifestyle and the improvements it provides for people where time, efficiency and reduced mental clutter and life clutter is of the essence. Not everyone buying minimalist wallart from urbanoutfitters and posting it on instagram is necessarily representative of people who have organized their thoughts time, schedule, social life, work life and have a resulting apartment decor that represents that.

munchbunny 10y ago

I think there's a bit of a problem on both sides of this discussion in a way that is missing the forest for the trees. Then again, I'm only talking about the "finding happiness" angle of the discussion and not so much the question of aesthetics or design. If your goal is to improve your quality of life, then there are two guidelines that I think are generally applicable. There are other ideas like "earn more money," but that's an external process and I wanted to focus on the internal processes: 1. Practice mindfulness, especially appreciation for both the big things and small things. 2. Learn not to depend on unimportant things for happiness (aka fear of missing out). These things are often possessions, activities, or even relationships. Generally as you do both of those things more, you feel less of a desire for non-essential physical possessions. It shouldn't be about trying to see how minimal you can go. It should be about finding happiness internally, and as a consequence not depending on a cultural performance (gadgets and fashion are common examples) for validation or identity. In that sense I think the decluttering movement (I'm aware the article isn't just about decluttering) has things kind of backwards. Removing distractions is good, but if you don't learn the underlying lesson about mindfulness, then you'll just end up emotionally dependent on something else, like seeing just how much you can throw away. The broader point is that minimalism (in the lifestyle sense, not the product design sense) isn't an end. It should be a result of learning to appreciate what is essential, not a result of removing everything until you think you've found what is essential. Some people might learn the first from doing the second, but not everyone does. I've seen friends get lost in the act of trying to simplify their lives, only to not end up any happier because they forgot to learn to appreciate what was left.

chdupont 10y ago

The article says minimalism is in reality about consuming more, but I don't see it explaining why. Did I miss something? Also, minimalist lifestyle and minimalist aesthetics are certainly different things. I have been into minimalism (the lifestyle) for about a year or so, reading a lot about it, so here is my summary of it: it is an optimization tool among others, kind of like code refactoring. In my case it helped me focus on what's important (family, passions), have more energy and more time. And believe me, when you have a young child, you need as much time and energy as possible. Less stuff is less useless stuff, all fun, meaningful or useful stuff is still there, I just spend less time and energy making decisions about what to wear, cleaning and tidying stuff, etc. Less distractions is less meaningless distractions, by all means I have more fun spending time with my family than playing video games. Knowing from experience that my family and me don't need much to be happy is extremely important and gives me confidence to face the future. Our financial situation is not so good, but I know that we can still do great whatever happens. On the same topic, if you know you can do well with not so much, you are less afraid to take risks, for example starting a business.

mschillemore 10y ago

I think some of you have missed the point on minimalism.... Buy, own, keep things that you love and need. If you enjoy having a cozy rug in your bedroom under your desk while you work because it brings you joy and happiness then you should own one! If you have guests over often and having them sit on your bed bothers you, makes you embarrassed; buy a small functional couch. Don't buy excess amounts of things; buy what you need and love. If you do art often, it's a passion, etc then it's OK to own a closet or cupboard with supplies. Take care of what you own, invest in quality items that will last, and make sure it's something you love, use and need.