Hoarding strikes me as being related to indecisiveness. Or, the very least, it’s tied up with an unwillingness and, in some cases, a chronic inability to decide. 

To avoid deciding now, I’ll take all I can and decide later. But, of course, it’s the negative side effects that make what seems like a good idea in the moment so pernicious. For one; an impingement on space, both physically and mentally – a sense that the walls are continually closing in due to an endless multiplication of assets. 

In some respects, this is where our culture has landed. Content, information, and convenience on tap. The side effects; overwhelm of the senses and an idling stress that comes with constantly having to make sense of, and decide between countless options.

Kevin Kelly says; “What you own will eventually own you.”

If only to support his case, shows like Keeping up with the Kardashians and Succesion show us how the super rich often flounder bizarrely.

Clearly, abundance comes with its downsides. 

Likely, we’re not evolutionary wired for it, but I also wonder, how much of it is because we rarely stop to think about why we actually want what we want?

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The Thoughts of Others

“The calamity of the information age is that the toxicity of data increases much faster than its benefits.” – Nassim Taleb