The Diderot Effect Turns You Into a Weak, Thoughtless Consumer
I once bought a rug. It was beautiful, it was on sale, and I said, damn it, it’s only $ 20 , and I took it home and put it on my floor. A few days later I bought new pillows; the old ones did not fit the carpet. Before I knew about it, I bought new plants, a chair, and tons of other accessories. That $ 20 turned into a new thing for hundreds of dollars. This is the Diderot effect in action.
It’s an unpleasant habit, but knowing how it works can help you stop it. Simply put, the Diderot effect is a social habit that includes two ideas:
- Sometimes the things we buy are associated with our sense of identity. Think about what you have that you just could not part with.
- Sometimes the things we buy are so good that we want to buy other great things. Like my rug.
The term was coined by the 18th century French philosopher Denis Diderot, who wrote the essay “Regretting the separation from my old robe. In an essay, he talks about how to get a beautiful new robe as a gift. He loves it, but then he realizes that it makes all of his other things look like shit. So what does he do? He goes out and buys new things. Diderot writes:
I was the absolute master of my old robe … but I became a slave to my new … Beware of sudden wealth contamination. A poor person can relax without thinking about appearance, but a rich person is always tense.
I know these are first world problems. But essentially, this is how lifestyle inflation happens. We get used to certain fashions and then feel obligated to match the rest of our lifestyle to that. Most of us have been there .
While Diderot seems to take a moral stance on this issue, I personally don’t think there is anything wrong with buying whatever the hell you want if you are financially stable, financially prepared for the future, and you are »mindful of your budget and your expenses. The problem with the Diderot effect is that it’s mindless consumption .
The simple realization that this phenomenon exists is likely to help prevent it. But in Becoming a Minimalist, writer Joshua Becker offers a few more suggestions. Here are some of my favorites:
Analyze and predict the total cost of future purchases . The store may have a big sale of new clothes, but if the new clothes force you to buy a new pair of shoes or a matching bag, it will simply become a more expensive purchase than originally thought.
Buy things because of their usefulness, not because of their status . Stop trying to impress others with your things and start trying to impress them with your life.
Remind yourself that possessions do not define you . The abundance of life cannot be found in the things you own. Your assets don’t define you or your success – no matter what marketers try to tell you.
Becker offers more information on the Diderot Effect on his blog. Check it out at the link below.
Understanding the Diderot Effect (and How to Overcome It) | Become a minimalist