Do You Know What You Don't Know?

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The Diderot effect is the idea that obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption leading you to acquire more. And as a result, we end up buying things that are previous selves never needed. I've tweeted about this feeling of just having so much stuff and not knowing how it happened. What is it about humans that just makes us so driven to want to buy things?

Have you ever looked around your home and thought, "Where did all this stuff come from?!"

Cal and Steph are currently going through this exercise, as they go through their first move in years.

It turns out they're not alone in this feeling of overwhelm and is shared by many others who used to be nomads. The need for *things* is universal, but so is the slippery slope to acquiring too many.

In this episode, Cal and Steph explore why weight of stuff – both physically and mentally – and how our decisions are often unconsciously driven by phenomena like the Diderot and Endowment effects. They also explore how our digital lives, although seemingly benign, can also turn into weights on your life and what simple frameworks they're using to change behavior.