Become Less Materialistic And Give Away Something You Love

Week 1 - the first challenge!

What is materialism? It seems that materialism can affect anyone, whether you are wealthy or poor, young or old. The dictionary definition is:

                          "pre-occupation with or emphasis on material objects."

We all need the basics to live and enjoy life. I am not really that materialistic beyond that and I recognise that other things in life make me happy other than stuff that I own. Sometimes, however, you can get sucked into thinking that materialism will make you happy if you are surrounded by people who are that way inclined. I have experienced this and it did not have a good effect on my mental health. Having stepped out of that environment I have recognised how unhealthy it was. I have many examples of this but one stands out. When I got engaged just over 4 years ago I decided I wanted to buy a cheap ring or actually not have one at all if I remember correctly. Amazingly, you can buy diamond rings that are manufactured in the lab by Carat and there has been no human cost in mining these diamonds. When my husband and I told people that this was our plan they looked at us in horror. We succumbed to social pressure and bought a diamond ring and I have regretted it ever since. In fact I don't wear the ring at all.

Most human beings tend to be a bit materialistic (although some more than others) so it is interesting to look at where this may have come from in our genetic/social history and whether it did actually have some benefit to humans at some point in time. The Journal Psychology Today reflects on Darwin's theory of evolution and suggests that materialism could have originated from the human need to acquire natural resources that were in high demand and limited and so competition for these would have been rife. On the other hand it also discusses the opposite side to this in that acquiring items would not have been beneficial back then when moving from place to place. It just isn't clear whether there was some actual benefit to acquiring items. Another theory that is suggested is that materialism kept humans alert and always striving for ways to survive. Nowadays, if our basic needs are met and we live out of poverty it would appear that trying to acquire material wealth is actually becoming quite detrimental to us.

I recently read a study that was published in the Journal of Motivation and Emotion which shows that people's well-being improved as they placed relatively less importance on materialistic goals and values. I then read about research published in the Journal of Personality and Individual Difference that surveyed 246 undergraduates by asking various questions which assessed their levels of materialism, levels of general gratitude and then whether their basic psychological needs were being met i.e. social interaction and a feeling of being loved and cared for. It would appear that if people are highly materialistic and display low levels of gratitude then generally their psychological needs won't be being met and overall their well-being will decrease.

Another paper, published in Psychological Science, looked at people's responses to being exposed to images of luxury goods as 'consumers' and not 'citizens' and words connected to these products. The participants that desired the objects such as flash cars and jewellery displayed anxiety and depression as a result and often many of those did not interact with others socially. The participants also became more selfish and competitive and had a reduced sense of social responsibility.

Another fascinating bit of research that was completed involved researchers putting a group of adolescents through a church programme designed to steer children away from spending and towards sharing and saving. The results were really interesting. The children that were already quite materialistic gained huge benefits from the programme and the researchers found that their self-esteem increased massively compared to other materialistic children not taking part in the programme. Those that cared little for materialism before they entered the programme did not experience any change in self-esteem.


This is all incredibly interesting research and it ties in with how I have been thinking for some time now. If you want to be happy then it would seem developing a sense of gratitude and valuing the non material side of life is important.

Some information that I have read have given some tips on how to live a less materialistic life: de-clutter, keep a gratitude diary, buy used items, limit web shopping, avoid celebrity culture, connect with people around you and find non-material forms of entertainment, surround yourself with people who feel the same as you, limit TV, give to charity shops, volunteer and spend time with people from all kinds of backgrounds, make friends with all different types of people, try and focus on other people and the world around you, create goals for yourself to challenge yourself and have experiences rather than buying stuff.

I am not going to go mad and get rid of all my stuff - that would be silly. I think it's just about taking the focus off my stuff. I have decided to de-clutter as well as performing an act of kindness at the same time thus doing one for myself and others at the same time. This is going to be a challenge for me as I am going to give away my large DVD collection to different charities. I spent some time building this up and I really love it.

John Lennon said,

"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace." 

So true :)