Famous French philosopher Denis Diderot, though best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor to the Encyclopédie, struggled financially most of his career. In 1766, Diderot’s lucky break has finally arrived. Empress of All Russia, Catherine the Great, found out about Diderot’s struggles, and offered him 50,000 francs to purchase his library. The Empress also offered Diderot to serve as her librarian, giving him a monthly salary for his efforts. Not long after that lucky sale, Diderot acquired a new scarlet dressing gown.
The new scarlet dressing gown was of such magnificence, it made Diderot immediately notice how out of place his other common possessions were in contrast. He became dissatisfied that all those common items are unable to match the elegance of his new gown. Thereafter, he started to replace his existing possessions with new extravagant ones. For example, he replaced his old straw chair with an armchair covered in Morrocan leather. His old desk was replaced with a new expensive writing table. Formerly beloved prints are replaced with more costly prints. This goes on and on, and eventually, it made Diderot fell into a debt spiral.
The Diderot Effect
“I was absolute master of my old dressing gown”, Diderot writes, “but I have become a slave to my new one … Beware of the contamination of sudden wealth. The poor man may take his ease without thinking of appearances, but the rich man is always under a strain”.
Diderot first described above in his famous essay “Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown”, the origins of what we know today as the Diderot Effect. This term is coined by anthropologist and scholar of consumption patterns Grant McCracken in 1988, crediting its name to Diderot and his essay.
Diderot Effect is based on two ideas:
- Goods purchased by consumers will align with their sense of identity, and, as a result, will complement one another.
- The introduction of a new possession that deviates from the consumer’s current complimentary goods can result in a process of spiraling consumption.
It’s Effect On Us
How does this affect us in our daily lives?
Let me give you a simple example that might resonate with you – APPLE products.
For the record, I’m not here to bash Apple products or their users in any way. I do think they are excellent at what they offer to the market (this is proven by Apple themselves by being one of the most valuable companies in the world). But using it as an example really gives us the clear meaning of Diderot’s effects in our lives.
The Tech Trap
One fine day, you begin to feel that the phone you’ve been holding on to for the past 3 years is starting to get old. You walked past an Apple store and you think: “Maybe I should check out the latest iPhone“. Not long after, you leave the store with great delight, having to own your FIRST Apple product. Unbeknownst to you, this will be the dawn of a spiral of consumption.
One of Apple‘s great features is how they make each one of their products so compatible with each other. It’s like an ecosystem where one product complements the other. After using your new iPhone as your daily driver for a few months, the smooth and clean user interface of iOS has become your new norm. Using your existing tablet starts to feel like a chore, and you head back to the Apple store… Viola~ you’re a proud owner of a new iPad!
This doesn’t stop here. The PC that you are having now is going to be the next victim. When the new Apple watch launches, it’s so tempting for you to have it as it feels like it’s “part of the family”… The APPLE Family. At one point, your current iPhone will be obsolete, and the cycle repeats itself.
The above example brand can be replaced with other known brands. Its effects are the same. The main goal of a company is to make profits, and they are incentivized to create their other products to supplement its core products. Nothing wrong with that.
The Cycle
The Diderot Effect works the same with other parts of our lives:
- Fashion
- Once you own your first pair of Nikes or Addidas, your other clothing items from Walmart will seem dull.
- Furniture
- After you purchased a brand new coffee table for your living room, all of a sudden you will have the urge to change your sofa, your TV cabinet, your rug, and more.
- Car
- A shiny new car will prompt you to get add-on package items such as a sporty body kit, carpets to match, a new car charger (even when your old one is working just fine), and the list goes on.
- Health Supplements
- Buying one health supplement just to “try it out” will lead you to study and purchase more and more which you deem you need. Some of those might even give you negative effects because it doesn’t suit your needs.
The Consumer Within Us
It’s human nature. Our tendency to consume more is just how we are, especially in today’s day of age where goods and services are of abundance. With mass production that led to overproduction particularly in the 20th century, the supply of goods outgrew consumer demands. This caused producers and manufacturers to incline toward planned obsolescence and advertising to influence and manipulate consumer demand.
Embracing The Diderot Effect
Now that we are aware of the potential impact of this effect on our lives, let’s address this together. Some ways to mitigate this:
- Minimize the influence of adverts.
- I would like to say avoid it at all cost, but that’s a very tall order to ask of anyone, especially when we are bombarded by hundreds of adverts wherever we go. Even if you stay home all day and watch YouTube all day, you will still be targeted with Ads. What we can do is to give it less attention, and always be mindful of the influence these ads have on us.
- Differentiate between your wants and your needs.
- I’ve bet you’ve seen or heard this from somewhere before, and it holds. Always know which category this new item that you’re looking to buy falls into, either it’s a necessity or just another mere desire. It’s ok to give in to your wants occasionally, just make sure that you don’t regret your purchases at the end of the month.
- Delay your purchase.
- Have you ever experienced only a short-lived happiness a few days after purchasing an item, even though you’re very excited on the day you bought it? Congratulations! You’ve just experienced hedonic adaptation! Instead of purchasing the item straight away, sleep on it for a few days, or weeks if you have to. Let your thoughts on this purchase really sink in. Usually, the urge to buy it will go away. If you really feel that you can’t live without it after the wait, then, by all means, go get it (please spend within your means!).
- Limit your spending on each purchase category.
- You can set a spending limit for each category of purchase, for example, capped at $20 for a shirt. This way, you will be more focused on the pricing, and will be less likely to perform “accidental upgrades”.
Of course, I’m not recommending you hide in a cave and not spend at all. The key is to be aware of such behaviors and spend on items that give you the best value. Remember, there are endless products in the world to feed our appetite for more, but only limited money in our wallets. Optimize your spending.
This is post #2.
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