In 1765, Denis Diderot, a famous French philosopher, acquired a beautiful new scarlet robe. All of a sudden, after having lived almost his entire life in poverty. Diderot’s name, however, was well-known as the writer of Encyclopédie, one of the most comprehensive encyclopedias of the time. At 52, Diderot needed money for his daughter’s wedding, but could not afford it. When Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia, heard of Diderot’s financial troubles she generously offered to buy his library from him for £1000 GBP, (~$50,000 USD in 2015 dollars). Suddenly, Diderot had money to spare. The Empress also didn’t need those books in a hurry, so he could keep it for as long as he needed it and the empress would also be paid for his services as the empress’s personal librarian.
Shortly after being recipient of some genuine generosity, Diderot acquired this new scarlet robe. That’s when something unexpected started to happen. The robe was beautiful. So beautiful, that it seemed out of place when surrounded by the rest of his common possessions. In his own words, there was “no more coordination, no more unity, no more beauty” between his robe and the rest of his items. The philosopher soon felt the urge to buy some new things to match the beauty of his robe. His old rug was replaced with a new one from Damascus and his “straw chair was relegated to the antechamber by a leather chair.” He bought beautiful sculptures, a better kitchen table came, as did a new mirror to place above the mantle. However, rather than making him happy, it made him miserable, he said in a 1769 essay titled “Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown”.
These reactive purchases have become known as the Diderot Effect. The Diderot Effect states that obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption which leads you to acquire more new things. As a result, we end up buying things that our previous selves never needed to feel happy or fulfilled. McCracken’s, who coined the term “the Diderot effect” says this is a result of the interaction between objects within “product complements”, or “Diderot unities”, and consumers. A Diderot unity is a group of objects that are considered to be culturally complementary, in relation to one another. We as consumers, strive towards unity in appearance and representation of one’s self-image and social role. However, it can also mean that if a beautiful object deviant from the preferred Diderot unity is acquired, it may have the effect of causing us to start subscribing to a completely different Diderot unity.
“Life has a natural tendency to become filled with more. We are rarely looking to downgrade, to simplify, to eliminate, to reduce. Our natural inclination is always to accumulate, to add, to upgrade, and to build upon”.
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits
One obvious instance of the Diderot effect that I still struggle with is the Apple ecosystem of gadgets. I bought my first iPod to go with my windows laptop sometime in 2007 and the dissonance was jarring. Ever since, my list of Apple gadgets have only gone in one direction – more and more. There are several other instance that I can think of, both big and small, where unknowingly wants become needs. Although not having the stuff or even acquiring them won’t really make a difference. In the words of sociology professor Juliet Schor, “the pressure to upgrade our stock of stuff is relentlessly unidirectional, always ascending.” This BBC video summarises the phenomenon beautifully:
Which brings us to the next question – how do we beat the Diderot Effect ?
At a practical level, it starts by knowing what our current self-impressions of “unity” and “taste” are – at a materialistic level. James Clear, in his blog post linked below says, “your life is only going to have more things fighting to get in it, so you need to to understand how to curate, eliminate, and focus on the things that matter. […] Buy items that fit your current system. You don’t have to start from scratch each time you buy something new. When you purchase new clothes, look for items that work well with your current wardrobe. When you upgrade to new electronics, get things that play nicely with your current pieces so you can avoid buying new chargers, adapters, or cables. Set self-imposed limits.” It makes sense although Apple Inc will surely like this !
He also suggests that understanding underlying cues and triggers can help us get ahead of the problem and reduce needless exposure. “Nearly every habit is initiated by a trigger or cue. One of the quickest ways to reduce the power of the Diderot Effect is to avoid the habit triggers that cause it in the first place. Unsubscribe from commercial emails. Call the magazines that send you catalogs and opt out of their mailings. Meet friends at the park rather than the mall. Block your favorite shopping websites …” Always be curating your life to include only the things that bring you joy and happiness.
In Diderot’s own words, “Let my example teach you a lesson. Poverty has its freedoms; opulence has its obstacles.”
At a more deeper level though, this made me think of how to address the root cause of the pressure we all feel psychologically. We allow our identities to become tied to a sense of unity that is outside of us. There are objects we perceive as beautiful all around us. It becomes a problem we need these just to feel good about ourselves. I feel good when I’m wearing a Nike, for it is true to who I am. Creative folks use Macs, iPads and e-pencils & that’s who I am (or want to be). Marketers will always exploit this and we’ll continue to feel the pressure. Techniques to manage and deflect this pressure will only take us so far.
Thus far I’ve found two additional principles that are helpful to me; one – discomfort is natural, don’t react on an impulse and two – accept what is, don’t impose “unity” onto the external world. I won’t elaborate on these here today, for they’ll take longer essays, but I’ll leave you with the following quote to reflect upon:
We use all kinds of ways to escape — all addictions stem from this moment when we meet our edge and we just can’t stand it. We feel we have to soften it, pad it with something, and we become addicted to whatever it is that seems to ease the pain.”
Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
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