In the past, people would hear about “minimalism” and think about art, design or architecture. In more recent years, minimalism refers to a lifestyle or a movement. The question is why do some people gravitate toward minimalism in their lives and in their thinking? Isn’t it difficult, extreme, or even unnatural?
Is Minimalism Catching On?
Could minimalism ever take off as a significant lifestyle trend? Arguably, early man dealt with scarcity and evolved to hunt, gather, accumulate and protect for survival. Aren’t we still hard-wired for accumulation in favor of minimalism? Has society reached a tipping point where excess, abundance, waste, clutter, and physical and mental health challenges are triggering a new awakening?
Minimalism is growing across various demographics and geographies. The reasons are personal for many seeking greater purpose, better mental health, less burden, and more flexibility and mobility. Some are motivated by environmentalism or disillusionment with capitalism and materialism. Still others have been fueled by movements such as the great resignation, quiet quitting and lying flat.
What Are the Potential Impacts of the Minimalism Trend?
With these significant contributors to the interest in minimalism, the question is how big will the trend grow? Will it change demand for certain goods and services? Will demand grow for portable storage over fixed self-storage locations? Will younger generations lose interest in traditional real estate in favor of tiny homes or mobile living? WIll vehicles become larger, smaller, or more diverse? Will dry cleaning decline? Will travel increase? Will services that aid minimalism flourish? Will the cumulative impact of all these trends benefit the environment or improve mental health? What will be the net effect on the economy?
Is Minimalism an Extreme Ideology?
While extreme minimalism might be fine for certain individuals, most people interested in minimalism will participate in small ways. For the most part, extreme views are polarizing, and proselytizing can trigger an immediate avoidance response or create opposition. Minimalism can be good, but pushing extreme minimalism on others may turn off people that would otherwise embrace and benefit from some minimalism. Associating minimalism with “ideologies” such as capitalism or environmentalism can be divisive.
How is Minimalism Related to Capitalism?
While minimalism and capitalism seem at odds, they are mutually exclusive. Minimalism is a lifestyle choice and capitalism is a national system. A better antithesis or opposite to minimalism is materialism. Where it gets murky is that capitalism is often associated with materialism. But materialism is not required or inherent in capitalist systems.
Minimalism is a choice that can be made by many individuals. However, not all people have that choice. Individuals living in poverty may have been born into minimalist existence. Some minimalist bashers describe the trend as a choice for the privileged.
Capitalism is a system chosen for a nation by its government. Individuals do not choose the system under which their country operates. However, if they are willing and able to move to another country, then you could argue they have a choice in the social, political or economic system in which they participate.
Definitions of capitalism contain words like system, private ownership, government, profit. There is no definition of capitalism that talks about accumulation of things. Some of the pitfalls of capitalism may include materialism, short-term-ism and negative impacts on the environment, but these are flaws of certain capitalist systems rather than inherent characteristics..
While minimalism and materialism are opposed to one another, it’s more useful to view them on a continuum. Some minimalists are more extreme than others and the same could be said for materialists. By the same token, national systems are often a hybrid. The US is associated with capitalism, while China and Russia are associated with socialism, and many Western European countries are hybrids. That said, the US has sociaist programs and China has elements of capitalism. Furthermore, the landscape is ever changing.
One could favor capitalism as a system, but choose a minimalist lifestyle. One of the world’s wealthiest capitalists, Warren Buffet, has a modest home in Omaha, an example of a minimalist choice. This is not to say Warren Buffet is a minimalist in general, and this is not fuel for the argument that minimalism is a choice for the wealthy. It’s just one example of many in a nuanced discussion.
How is Minimalism Related to Environmentalism?
Scientists say that one of the biggest, if not the biggest, environmentally friendly acts one can do personally is to not have a child. Getting extreme enough for you? Yes, each human being has a carbon footprint, even minimalists. But the smallest carbon footprint is none at all, only to be achieved by leaving this earth or never showing up in the first place.
While each minimalist lives their own unique version of minimalism, and each environmentalist lives their own unique version of environmentalism, minimalism aligns well with environmentalism. While a minimalist may not do all the same things as an environmentalist and vice versa, limiting consumption and material possessions will have a positive environmental impact.
Note on -isms and -ists
People who are environmentally conscious may not identify as environmentalists. People who embrace capitalist ideas may not identify as capitalists. And people who embrace minimalist ideas may not identify as minimalists. For efficiency’s sake, the -ist word may be used in this article in reference in reference to those who may embrace but don’t identify as …ists.
What is Digital Minimalism?
Digital minimalism is a lifestyle with minimal exposure to digital stimuli. Just like decluttering material possessions may help people feel better, value things more, and exist more freely, so can decoupling from screens. Some screen time is necessary just like some possessions are, but after three hours of video games, tik-tok, or good old-fashioned television, you have to pay attention to the toll.
While the primary benefit of social media for the user may be social connections, the primary goal of the provider is advertising revenue. Advertising is the lubricant for consumption, but so is the basic human instinct to compare oneself to others. Therein lies the evil genius of the online tech titans. Social media feeds people’s needs to compare themselves, keep score, and keep up with or be as happy as the next person. Digital consumption leads to material consumption.
Are Minimalists Happy or Fooling Themselves?
I found an article that asked the question “Is Minimalism a Mental Illness?” Let’s put that “clickbait” title to rest. If someone adopts minimalism to effect change, they are probably doing it voluntarily. They’re tired of doing, feeling and seeing the same thing over and over. They implement change in order to get a different result which is a very sane thing to do. They’ll soon find out if they are happier, and if not, they’ll change something else. This is vastly different than someone who compulsively thins out their inventory, or hoards it for that matter, due to mental illness.
But there are many inputs in the happiness equation. Minimalism can be a path to happiness for many. On the other hand, iIf minimalism is a course of action to avoid or suppress a major unrelated issue in one’s life, then it may provide little to no help. Be aware – don’t choose to be an unhappy minimalist.
Is Minimalism Good or Bad?
For many people in the US, minimalism is a privilege and a choice. Minimalism is a spectrum that allows whoever wants to participate to do so on their terms. The benefits are personal. It is not an ideology. It is merely an option with potential societal benefits from increased happiness and productivity across a population.
The answer becomes more complicated in a household of more than one where one’s actions and lifestyle affects others. If you and your partner decide to run a marathon together, you don’t expect to cross the finish line at the same time. You might not even expect the both of you to finish. And if one of you decides to run a marathon and the other doesn’t want to, that’s pretty easy to understand and execute.
Minimalism for two or more is different. Even partners who agree to adopt a more minimalist lifestyle will eventually realize they need to accept two different degrees of minimalism. This means one person needs to be prepared to see and deal with more stuff than they want to. Or two people may disagree on which of two items has more utility than the other. Without communication, planning and expectation setting, minimalism for two can be difficult to achieve gracefully.
How is Minimalism Related to Intentionalism?
There are plenty of arguments against minimalism including “it’s too much work” or “it doesn’t make me happy.” These reasons are valid since minimalism is a lifestyle choice. While many of us of a certain personality type would like to logically dismiss unreasonable arguments, we just don’t have that luxury. That could mean dismissing half your family.
On the other hand, the only reasonable argument I can imagine against intentionalism is it may stifle spontaneity, which I acknowledge does have value. Intentionalism is acting with intent. Regarding consumption and material possessions, it means valuing each decision enough to give it more thought than usual. No more buying spur-of-the-moment, because someone else looks good in it, because it’s the best you could find before leaving the store, or because it’s your routine. Intentionalism can be applied to all choices in life including products, services, experiences, relationships, and ideas or philosophies.
As we tune into what matters most, what brings us most joy, we become more intentional in our behaviors. This can lead to fewer, more valued acts of consumption and material possessions. Many minimalists use intentional living as a synonymous phrase with minimalism. However, they can clearly differ.
Example: Intentional Izzy
Izzy practices intentionalism. He has a collection of over thirty guitars, each one with special meaning and value that gives him great joy. He has access to many more, but turns them down because they don’t have significance for him. Izzy also has three homes in places of special significance. Clothes are not as important to him, so he has a very simple wardrobe of jeans and casual shorts. Likewise, with cars, he only owns one.
While Izzy would not fit most people’s concept of a minimalist, his intentionalism means he doesn’t clutter himself with things of no value to him. He is proud of his choices and feels free in the same way as a minimalist. He may not be a minimalist, but he embodies some of the ideas of minimalism where it suits him. Izzy consumes more thoughtfully and intentionally. Some bit of materialism brings him joy, but his intentionalism enables him to minimize where it is easy to do so.
Whether or not you like the concept of minimalism, I would argue that intentionalism is easier for people to consider. Would you agree?
Do Businesses Practice Minimalism?
In general, businesses practice minimalism with internal operations. Here are some examples:
- Optimize staff and wages
- Minimize overtime
- Optimize space, utilities and overhead
- Optimize operating expenses
- Reduce material waste
- Recycle
- Optimize inventory levels
Optimization is the act of spending as little as possible without sacrificing quality or spending as little as possible to maximize benefit. Good businesses are efficient at deploying capital and utilizing resources. Metrics are in place because these businesses are accountable to competitive market forces.
On the flip side, businesses encourage consumerism.
They desire to grow revenue by extracting customer dollars. Here are some ways in which they encourage consumption:
- Upselling
- Cross-selling
- Subscription model
- “Profiting from the ink” model of selling consumables
- Planned obsolescence
- Upgrades
- Ending support for old models
- Addictive flavors
- Addictive media and social media
- Psychological marketing and selling
- Packaging as part of the product / experience
- Closeout sales
- Fast / disposable fashion
- Combo meals
- Supersizing
- Free shipping