5 ms·

I like this take. Nobody thinks of stamp collecting as a problematic hobby. Collecting and curating is fun in its own right. Though I do think there can be ano

I like this take. Nobody thinks of stamp collecting as a problematic hobby. Collecting and curating is fun in its own right. Though I do think there can be another aspect at play; I often find myself collecting things that I think "might be useful". Eg: I have a ton of empty yogurt containers, for use in hypothetical future art projects. I do use them sometimes, but at this point I have plenty. I still feel the urge to keep saving them, though — for some imagined future. I wouldn't say "I enjoy collecting yogurt containers," though. I'm no hoarder, but I do feel a certain pull/compulsion in that direction from time to time, and I could see the same being true elsewhere. It's not always easy to know whether I'm scratching an itch or worrying at it.

thih9 3y ago
I feel like presenting yourself as a collector could work at most as an excuse for concerned friends and family. A person with GAS does not enjoy collecting; they do end up collecting, but it's a side effect.
TrapLord_Rhodo 3y ago
There's a difference between collecting and preserving. Saving your old yogurt containers for a future use, is the later. In the same way you could save coffee grounds for growing mushrooms, Jars for growing sprouts, etc. Buying artificially scarce dead trees isn't really the same.
ramses0 3y ago
Late reply, but... I'm with you on this one! Reduce/Re-Use/Recycle, washing glass spaghetti jars, etc. What I've come to the conclusion is the following guidelines/rules: 1) "Save _all_ the things!" Yeah, save them, use them, etc. 2) Use it or lose it: I have a space under the sink for washed/clean plastic containers. If that gets too junky, it's time to throw them out in the trash, offer them "free" on craigslist/facebook marketplace, your neighborhood group, whatever. 3) Regularize: we've ended up with strict "use cases" after saving "_all_ the things!". Sour cream containers become waste-grease-buckets for the freezer. Glass spaghetti jars become candy/cookie containers. Peanut-butter-jars become nail/screw holders in the garage. 4) Limit the flow: Once you "run out of space", keep only one or two "on hand" if it's a particular type of jar that you know you will "flow through". Basically you should reach a steady-state of using the stuff you're saving rather than growing your "cache" unbounded. Unless it's a really useful/valuable/unique type of box/jar/product, get rid of it! Even if it's awesome (but unique), probably get rid of it, b/c it'll end up being "the odd one out" unless you have a really specific need for it. 5) re-Regularize: is there a certain type/brand of spaghetti-jars that are soooo awesome, because they fit on a shelf, have the right size opening, etc. etc.? Start consolidating around one particular type (as you "flow through" them) and getting rid of the oddball ones. 6) Front-door, back-door: Put things by the front door if they're going to be given away, sold, donated, etc. Put things by the back door if they're destined for the trash. Make those decisions and then take action on them as you can. There's a lot of value in saving some of this "stuff" from the waste-stream, and lots of pleasure to have all your other "stuff" organized in solid plastic containers (that you ended up kindof paying "nothing" for)... just don't fall victim to the "save everything", instead know that you can just "stretch out your hand" and grab the things you need _when_ you need them, not _if_ you need them. :-)
minitoar 3y ago
Haha yes, like so many behaviors, collecting yogurt containers to re-use is adaptive until it isn’t.
j7ake 3y ago
I’ve gotten to the point of my book buying hobby that I buy books to collect books, rather than to read them.
Fluorescence 3y ago
I am a bit disturbed by collecting hobbies to be honest. When there is some novelty, archival or scientific value to a collection, that is different and fascinating, it's the purely consumerist collecting that gives me the heebie-jeebies. It's purely acquisitive and about the buying and getting and just seems quite sad and empty. Those afflicted become slaves to the companies pumping out items purely for this class of consumer. For example, "limited editions" and such are not rare because the product warrants it, it's just designed scarcity to press the buttons of the collectors and extract the most money from them. Or it's bidding wars on vintage items like wine where huge price inflation happens just for the collection kudos not the virtues of the item itself. For example, I like fountain pens, but I can't really read r/fountainpens because it's mostly people building huge collections of pens and getting excited about buying a new pattern or colour of pen they already own. Nothing makes me sadder than seeing their full collections of 100s of fantastic tools that will sit idle for the vast majority of their life until the owner passes and a relative has to liquidate things they don't understand. It looks like a dysfunction to me - a stimulation seeking addiction which is not satisfied by the next acquisition and will never fill the emptiness, the need, the dream, of the collector. I know people will be super defensive about their collecting but I would love for that money and energy to be redirected towards higher degrees of self-actualisation. It feels like a failure to scale the Maslow's hierarchy of needs and get stuck in a loop down the bottom. Instead of creating novelty or growing, there is something safe, comfortable and unchallenging to just acquire.
- swayvil 3y ago
  There's a vast and profitable opportunity awaiting the man who can connect "collecting hobbyists" with generative/AI production technology. A veritable money machine.
- marcosdumay 3y ago
  Any hobby can be a healthy, fun exercise you do on your spare time or an unhealthy compulsion that takes over your life. You are singling-out collection for no good reason.
- cainxinth 3y ago
  It's because the law of marginal utility, which states that the satisfaction derived from each additional unit of a good decreases as one consumes more, often doesn't apply to collecting because collectors derive pleasure from uniqueness and completeness.
Paul-Craft 3y ago
Accumulating stuff that "might be useful" at some indefinite point in the future, without trying to curate the accumulation might not be hoarding, but, it's actually quite similar to the mindset of some of the actual hoarders on the TV show Hoarders. Those people obviously take it to pathological extremes, and I'm not suggesting having a bunch of empty, cleaned out yogurt containers stashed away somewhere is in any way equivalent to stuffing one's entire house from floor to ceiling with stuff. But, on the show, when the hoarders talk about why they do it, it's often a behavior that came about as a reaction to some kind of loss, or out of a fear of some kind of loss. I would suggest that what you've described ("I'll hold on to this 'just in case....") is a lot like the reasons they give for doing it, even if the real motivation is quite different. There are differences as well. Magnitude is the obvious one, unless you actually filled your entire kitchen with yogurt containers or something lol. :) The other big one I can think of is that an actual hoarder will have genuine, severe anxiety at the mere thought of getting rid of anything from their hoard. This is another assumption, of course, but my guess is that if you had to get rid of some, or maybe even most of your accumulation of yogurt containers for some reason, you'd be able to do that, and the thought wouldn't fill you with dread or anything.
- MSFT_Edging 3y ago
  > Accumulating stuff that "might be useful" at some indefinite point in the future, without trying to curate the accumulation might not be hoarding, but, it's actually quite similar to the mindset of some of the actual hoarders Every once and a while I'll try to curate my parts bin, tossing bulky or unused items that I haven't needed. Every time I find myself needing some seemingly dumb part from what I got rid of a month or two later. I still try to clean up, fully knowing I'll need that thing later. Its rough.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    I toss based on how hard I feel it will be to get it back, and just accept it as part of the cost of life. Still can be annoying, though.
soco 3y ago
I finally collected/hoarded/acquired all house improvement gear I ever thought I'd be able to use. And when I also get to use them - like once every 5 years if I'm lucky - I get such a satisfaction! So was I unhealthy or prepared? I even asked myself but as they're only occupying a cupboard I let myself breathe and wait for the next opportunity to polish a handle or drill a square hole.
prmoustache 3y ago
> Nobody thinks of stamp collecting as a problematic hobby. I do. About any collecting hobby. I view that more as an addiction than a hobby tbh.

thih9 3y ago

I feel like presenting yourself as a collector could work at most as an excuse for concerned friends and family. A person with GAS does not enjoy collecting; they do end up collecting, but it's a side effect.

TrapLord_Rhodo 3y ago

There's a difference between collecting and preserving. Saving your old yogurt containers for a future use, is the later. In the same way you could save coffee grounds for growing mushrooms, Jars for growing sprouts, etc. Buying artificially scarce dead trees isn't really the same.

ramses0 3y ago

Late reply, but... I'm with you on this one! Reduce/Re-Use/Recycle, washing glass spaghetti jars, etc. What I've come to the conclusion is the following guidelines/rules: 1) "Save _all_ the things!" Yeah, save them, use them, etc. 2) Use it or lose it: I have a space under the sink for washed/clean plastic containers. If that gets too junky, it's time to throw them out in the trash, offer them "free" on craigslist/facebook marketplace, your neighborhood group, whatever. 3) Regularize: we've ended up with strict "use cases" after saving "_all_ the things!". Sour cream containers become waste-grease-buckets for the freezer. Glass spaghetti jars become candy/cookie containers. Peanut-butter-jars become nail/screw holders in the garage. 4) Limit the flow: Once you "run out of space", keep only one or two "on hand" if it's a particular type of jar that you know you will "flow through". Basically you should reach a steady-state of using the stuff you're saving rather than growing your "cache" unbounded. Unless it's a really useful/valuable/unique type of box/jar/product, get rid of it! Even if it's awesome (but unique), probably get rid of it, b/c it'll end up being "the odd one out" unless you have a really specific need for it. 5) re-Regularize: is there a certain type/brand of spaghetti-jars that are soooo awesome, because they fit on a shelf, have the right size opening, etc. etc.? Start consolidating around one particular type (as you "flow through" them) and getting rid of the oddball ones. 6) Front-door, back-door: Put things by the front door if they're going to be given away, sold, donated, etc. Put things by the back door if they're destined for the trash. Make those decisions and then take action on them as you can. There's a lot of value in saving some of this "stuff" from the waste-stream, and lots of pleasure to have all your other "stuff" organized in solid plastic containers (that you ended up kindof paying "nothing" for)... just don't fall victim to the "save everything", instead know that you can just "stretch out your hand" and grab the things you need _when_ you need them, not _if_ you need them. :-)

minitoar 3y ago

Haha yes, like so many behaviors, collecting yogurt containers to re-use is adaptive until it isn’t.

j7ake 3y ago

I’ve gotten to the point of my book buying hobby that I buy books to collect books, rather than to read them.

Fluorescence 3y ago

I am a bit disturbed by collecting hobbies to be honest. When there is some novelty, archival or scientific value to a collection, that is different and fascinating, it's the purely consumerist collecting that gives me the heebie-jeebies. It's purely acquisitive and about the buying and getting and just seems quite sad and empty. Those afflicted become slaves to the companies pumping out items purely for this class of consumer. For example, "limited editions" and such are not rare because the product warrants it, it's just designed scarcity to press the buttons of the collectors and extract the most money from them. Or it's bidding wars on vintage items like wine where huge price inflation happens just for the collection kudos not the virtues of the item itself. For example, I like fountain pens, but I can't really read r/fountainpens because it's mostly people building huge collections of pens and getting excited about buying a new pattern or colour of pen they already own. Nothing makes me sadder than seeing their full collections of 100s of fantastic tools that will sit idle for the vast majority of their life until the owner passes and a relative has to liquidate things they don't understand. It looks like a dysfunction to me - a stimulation seeking addiction which is not satisfied by the next acquisition and will never fill the emptiness, the need, the dream, of the collector. I know people will be super defensive about their collecting but I would love for that money and energy to be redirected towards higher degrees of self-actualisation. It feels like a failure to scale the Maslow's hierarchy of needs and get stuck in a loop down the bottom. Instead of creating novelty or growing, there is something safe, comfortable and unchallenging to just acquire.

swayvil 3y ago
There's a vast and profitable opportunity awaiting the man who can connect "collecting hobbyists" with generative/AI production technology. A veritable money machine.
marcosdumay 3y ago
Any hobby can be a healthy, fun exercise you do on your spare time or an unhealthy compulsion that takes over your life. You are singling-out collection for no good reason.
cainxinth 3y ago
It's because the law of marginal utility, which states that the satisfaction derived from each additional unit of a good decreases as one consumes more, often doesn't apply to collecting because collectors derive pleasure from uniqueness and completeness.

Paul-Craft 3y ago

Accumulating stuff that "might be useful" at some indefinite point in the future, without trying to curate the accumulation might not be hoarding, but, it's actually quite similar to the mindset of some of the actual hoarders on the TV show Hoarders. Those people obviously take it to pathological extremes, and I'm not suggesting having a bunch of empty, cleaned out yogurt containers stashed away somewhere is in any way equivalent to stuffing one's entire house from floor to ceiling with stuff. But, on the show, when the hoarders talk about why they do it, it's often a behavior that came about as a reaction to some kind of loss, or out of a fear of some kind of loss. I would suggest that what you've described ("I'll hold on to this 'just in case....") is a lot like the reasons they give for doing it, even if the real motivation is quite different. There are differences as well. Magnitude is the obvious one, unless you actually filled your entire kitchen with yogurt containers or something lol. :) The other big one I can think of is that an actual hoarder will have genuine, severe anxiety at the mere thought of getting rid of anything from their hoard. This is another assumption, of course, but my guess is that if you had to get rid of some, or maybe even most of your accumulation of yogurt containers for some reason, you'd be able to do that, and the thought wouldn't fill you with dread or anything.

MSFT_Edging 3y ago
> Accumulating stuff that "might be useful" at some indefinite point in the future, without trying to curate the accumulation might not be hoarding, but, it's actually quite similar to the mindset of some of the actual hoarders Every once and a while I'll try to curate my parts bin, tossing bulky or unused items that I haven't needed. Every time I find myself needing some seemingly dumb part from what I got rid of a month or two later. I still try to clean up, fully knowing I'll need that thing later. Its rough.
- bombcar 3y ago
  I toss based on how hard I feel it will be to get it back, and just accept it as part of the cost of life. Still can be annoying, though.

soco 3y ago

I finally collected/hoarded/acquired all house improvement gear I ever thought I'd be able to use. And when I also get to use them - like once every 5 years if I'm lucky - I get such a satisfaction! So was I unhealthy or prepared? I even asked myself but as they're only occupying a cupboard I let myself breathe and wait for the next opportunity to polish a handle or drill a square hole.

prmoustache 3y ago

> Nobody thinks of stamp collecting as a problematic hobby. I do. About any collecting hobby. I view that more as an addiction than a hobby tbh.