How much stuff do we need?
August 4, 2009
We have far too much of it in our lives, and we invest too much time, money and emotion accumulating it. This is not a modern-day revelation but one that was made 2,000 years ago by the prolific Roman author, Pliny the Elder. “An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit,” he wrote.
In 2007, the US Consumer Electronics Association said that the average American owned 25 consumer electronics products and spent $1,200 each year buying these items. The five “most-owned” electrical items, it said, were the TV, the DVD player, the VCR, the cordless phone and the mobile phone.
It’s not a coincidence, therefore, that this decade has seen a boom in companies offering self-storage: we now own so much stuff to which we don’t need regular access that we are willing to part with cash just to store it.
But how much of the stuff we buy do we really need? It’s no surprise to learn that Gandhi was greatly inspired by Thoreau’s writings. It was said that the Indian leader could count his own possessions on two hands, and that they included his spectacles, pocket watch and sandals (all of which were bought at auction by an Indian millionaire earlier this year, for $1.8m).
I’m beginning to sense that a proper challenge for the modern consumerist should be live for a year with just 10 possessions. But what would you choose?
Thanks to http://www.guardian.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.
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