The Psychology Behind Not Adding New Things Into Your Life

Louis Chew
Sep 4, 2018 · 3 min read

It’s hard to stop adding things to your life.

When I spot a new phone app or a new physical object that confers a benefit, my first instinct is to try to acquire it. I look at the cost; if it’s free like a cool phone app then I don’t think twice. The only thing that makes me move along is the price tag.

I’m sure I’m not alone. It’s normal to want to have things that add value to your life. But as people are slowly realising, that can come at a hefty cost. You pay not only with your wallet, but also with your time and attention.

It’s especially evident with digital products. Google changed everything when it realised that it didn’t have to make money off consumers. Instead, they targeted advertisers who not only had deeper pockets, but were also happy to pay to get their product in front of thousands of eyeballs.

For a long while, it appeared that this was a win for everyone. Consumers won because they no longer had to pay for the products. Advertisers won because they could finally get the attention of consumers. Google won because they figured out how they could generate billions of dollars.

Today, Google is joined by Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and a consortium of other companies. The name of the game has changed. They’re no longer going straight for our wallet, but instead for our attention.

Chasing Upside, Ignoring Downside

What does this mean for us? For one, we can’t go about viewing things through what Cal Newport calls the “Any-Benefit Mindset”.

It’s a brilliant description of what we do. We identify any possible benefit as sufficient justification for using or acquiring a tool. But this disregards all the negatives that come along with such usage.

To use the example of Facebook, we use it to connect with friends, catch up on the latest news, and find like-minded communities. It’s a network tool that sounds brilliant, but we’re also paying for it in extremely subtle ways. We spend more time and attention on our phones and laptops, hunt for social validation in the form of likes, and even risk our personal data.

Of course, not all devices or tools can hurt us in such a manner. But every purchase or acquisition comes with it hidden costs such as time, attention, and storage. We cannot just chase benefits without factoring in costs as well.

The solution to this problem is what Cal Newport calls the craftsman approach to tool selection: adopt a tool only if its positive impacts on these factors substantially outweigh its negative impacts. When we view things this way, we’re more hesitant about adding more into our lives.

With less clutter, we have more space to pursue what really matters.


Originally published at https://nosidebar.com/adding-new-things/

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Louis Chew

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