Willemijn van Dolen | Long live stuff!
What?! That can’t be right. We are too materialistic, aren’t we? In the media, debates, and conversations, the tenor seems to be that much of our consumption is bad. We have too much stuff and lead a hedonistic lifestyle, which is all bad for the environment and the climate, and for that matter, for our well-being. Right?
The link between materialism, the importance you place on buying and having stuff, and well-being is still unclear. Many scientific studies find a negative relationship—materialistic people are not as happy—yet a recent longitudinal study shows that the effect of materialism on well-being is not causal. However, the researchers did find a causal relationship the other way around, from well-being to materialism. People who are less satisfied with their lives think that buying and having more stuff makes them happier. Retail therapy, anyone? Other research suggests a positive rather than a negative relationship between materialism and well-being.
Researchers are now using different definitions of materialism and different scales for measuring well-being, so for now, this puzzle remains unsolved.
But back to stuff...we have a lot of it and it performs several functions. First, there’s the stuff we use in our daily lives: pans, coffee makers, laptops, phones, toothbrushes, tables, beds, couches, and so on. Look around you and imagine a room without stuff, and you’ll immediately realize how it is interwoven into our daily lives. Second, there’s the stuff we use to express our identity. Some of us do that with clothes, others with piercings, jewelry, tattoos, watches, a purse, or a bicycle. Third, there’s the stuff that connects us to others in the form of memories (grandma’s clock or our favorite book from the past) and as part of social activities (a ball for a weekly game of soccer with friends, streamers for a party, or camping gear).
All in all, that produces quite a collection of stuff. In his book, Empire of Things, historian Frank Trentmann estimates that the average German has about 10,000 things. It wouldn’t be much different for the Netherlands.
Stuff is essential in our lives and has brought us prosperity. But its production and use also come with pollution and emissions. The research firm CE Delft concludes that “stuff” causes the greatest environmental impact for the average Dutch consumer.
So we have a problem and what for many people is a dilemma. We love stuff and it makes us happy, but its production and consumption are bad for the climate and environment, and we worry about that, too.
One way to address this problem is a recent trend called appreciative materialism. The idea is that if we better realize how essential stuff is in our daily lives for expressing our identity and for our relationship to others, we might start to appreciate it more. As a result, we would be less focused on buying new stuff and more appreciative of the things we already have.
So, appreciative materialism: more love for stuff. Not throwing away that broken laptop, but having it repaired. No fast fashion, but a closet with clothes that last longer. In short, precious things that last longer and can be repaired. Business and government can make a big contribution here. With the recent “right to repair” law, the EU is making a good start.
Long live stuff! It won’t save the climate or your wallet, but every little bit helps, and there’s also the chance that it will make you happier.
