The PROBLEM With Minimalism — Transcript

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1. 0:00minimalism was a huge lifestyle movement
2. 0:02that took the internet and the World by
3. 0:04storm infiltrating news feeds with this
4. 0:07distinct Simplicity but today the trend
5. 0:09is categorically in decline in even the
6. 0:11pillars of the movement have
7. 0:13acknowledged that its peak has come and
8. 0:15gone so what happened
9. 0:24now believe it or not minimalism was not
10. 0:26a concept born in the vacuum of YouTube
11. 0:28the term minimalism originated in the
12. 0:32art world in the 1950s as a way to blend
13. 0:35Beauty with utilitarianism writers
14. 0:38painters and Architects moved away from
15. 0:40metaphors abstract impressionism and
16. 0:42other stifling confines of Fine Art and
17. 0:46started focusing on Sleek designs with
18. 0:48tons of white space and Industrial
19. 0:51materials do you hear kind of the theme
20. 0:53that we're getting to here because
21. 0:55basically what we just described is what
22. 0:58a minimalist apartment looked like in
23. 1:002015. essentially minimalism was all
24. 1:03about removing excess and focusing on
25. 1:06the simple everyday aspects of Art and
26. 1:09that same mentality resonated deeply
27. 1:11with a society that was exhausted by the
28. 1:13endless accumulation of stuff that had
29. 1:16become the norm for consumers in 2010.
30. 1:20so minimalism actually became a
31. 1:21lifestyle movement in the 19 1980s but
32. 1:24it didn't gain mainstream popularity
33. 1:26until the 2010s when everyone and their
34. 1:29mom had a YouTube channel including
35. 1:31myself that's right me Levi Hildebrand
36. 1:35was on the uh minimalist bandwagon just
37. 1:38like hundreds of other YouTubers I made
38. 1:40the minimalist wardrobe video the
39. 1:42minimalist travel video the minimalist
40. 1:44Christmas gift guide video oh yeah I was
41. 1:47deep into it and while it is a bit
42. 1:49embarrassing how clickbaity the trend
43. 1:52became I still actually live by a lot of
44. 1:55those same principles and we're going to
45. 1:57get into that later on so let's rewind
46. 1:59it's 2015 and by this point the YouTube
47. 2:02world has been reeling with this new
48. 2:04phenomenon and in the chaos it seemed to
49. 2:07get bundled into two basic categories
50. 2:09how much stuff you had and specifically
51. 2:12what stuff and how you live your life
52. 2:15now of course we can't make a video on
53. 2:17this subject without mentioning
54. 2:19minimalism daddy Matt D Avella but there
55. 2:22are two other dudes at the center of
56. 2:25this new minimalism thing and he was
57. 2:28actually friends with both of them
58. 2:29Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus
59. 2:33literally called themselves the
60. 2:35minimalists Joshua and Ryan are both
61. 2:38former tech industry six-figure earners
62. 2:40who realized that even though they
63. 2:42accomplished the American dream they
64. 2:44weren't happy they were in debt abused
65. 2:46drugs and alcohol and their personal
66. 2:48lives were in shambles so they left it
67. 2:50all behind and started over by purging
68. 2:53almost all of their stuff from there
69. 2:55they wrote a book they started a Blog
70. 2:57they toured the country and they made a
71. 2:59Netflix documentary about the minimalist
72. 3:02lifestyle which was directed by Matt
73. 3:05diabella now before we get into why
74. 3:08minimalism failed I want to talk about
75. 3:10some of the positives because I
76. 3:13obviously believed in this thing enough
77. 3:15that I was willing to make an 18 minute
78. 3:18long video about what I carry in my
79. 3:20backpack uh yep that's a video that I I
80. 3:23made the way I see it is this living
81. 3:26with less doesn't mean that your life is
82. 3:29less great a clutter-free home frees up
83. 3:32your time and brain space to focus on
84. 3:33the things you really care about being a
85. 3:35minimalist also means that you're a
86. 3:37conscious consumer which is going to be
87. 3:38better for the wallet and for the planet
88. 3:40instead of relying on swiping a credit
89. 3:42card to give you that dopamine hit you
90. 3:45can live an experienced-based lifestyle
91. 3:47my wife and I haven't exchanged
92. 3:49traditional gifts in like over five
93. 3:52years we share meals we go on trips and
94. 3:55we share those experiences together the
95. 3:58concept of minimalism can also be
96. 4:00applied to other areas of life instead
97. 4:02of just being about what you own though
98. 4:04too during the Heyday of mainstream
99. 4:07minimalism we also saw the rise of
100. 4:10minimalist Financial gurus minimalist
101. 4:12fashionistas with their capsule
102. 4:14wardrobes minimalist Wellness coaches
103. 4:17productivity hackers and the list goes
104. 4:20on at its best minimalism is about
105. 4:22living giving an intentional life
106. 4:24instead of being a Mindless consumer and
107. 4:27that's a value that you can apply to
108. 4:29your entire life and as a big believer
109. 4:31in the concept of living intentionally I
110. 4:33wish that this could be the end of the
111. 4:35video and that minimalism really did
112. 4:37just solve all the world problems but
113. 4:40this is a future-proof video and so we
114. 4:42have to talk about why minimalism failed
115. 4:45minimalism didn't do well during the
116. 4:48pandemic when you're stuck at home 24 7
117. 4:50the options to experience something or
118. 4:52anything are pretty much limited to what
119. 4:55you can order off Amazon and that's
120. 4:57pretty much exactly what happened even
121. 4:58before the pandemic people discovered a
122. 5:01downside to extreme purging some people
123. 5:04regretted getting rid of sentimental
124. 5:06objects or practical things that they
125. 5:08could have used down the road and then
126. 5:09had to re-buy them the hyper fixation on
127. 5:13Instagram worthy minimalism which author
128. 5:16Kyle Chaka calls superficial minimalism
129. 5:19spread outside the home too coffee shops
130. 5:22airbnbs upscale clothing stores all kind
131. 5:25of adopted this Stark Sleek aesthetic
132. 5:27and everything just started to look
133. 5:30really generic the pandemic turned
134. 5:32people's focuses into the home where
135. 5:34they were spending all of their time
136. 5:36homeowners started tackling all those
137. 5:38home projects they've been putting off
138. 5:40which led to redecorating and
139. 5:42coincidentally the return of maximalism
140. 5:45instead of having nothing on their walls
141. 5:47people filled their walls with quirky
142. 5:49mismatch artwork that showcased the
143. 5:51personality emphasis on colors and
144. 5:53textures and unique knickknacks is a
145. 5:56huge part of this style in the home
146. 5:58design world the message was clear
147. 6:00maximalism was back which meant that
148. 6:03minimalism was out but as we have said
149. 6:05minimalism is not just about the way
150. 6:08that you decorate your house so a shift
151. 6:10in home decor Trends is not the only
152. 6:12reason why the movement failed the
153. 6:14lifestyle was marketed to a very upper
154. 6:16middle class demographic minimalism made
155. 6:19a ton of sense for privileged folks who
156. 6:22had the time to optimize their lives and
157. 6:25seriously consider who they wanted to be
158. 6:27and how they wanted to live but it
159. 6:29wasn't very accessible for families
160. 6:31people with demanding careers people who
161. 6:34love clashing colors and patterns or
162. 6:36other circumstances that make it
163. 6:37difficult to fit all of your belongings
164. 6:39into a backpack not everyone has the
165. 6:42luxury to donate or sell their crock pot
166. 6:44under the guys that you can just buy one
167. 6:45later if you need one according to
168. 6:47sources more than half of Canadians are
169. 6:50living paycheck to paycheck and that
170. 6:52number Rises to 63 percent in America
171. 6:55while many of us see maximalism as a fun
172. 6:58Trend to try out it's important to
173. 7:00realize that people living in poverty
174. 7:02are more likely to save stuff as well as
175. 7:05money because of financial uncertainty
176. 7:08for a while it felt like your house had
177. 7:10to look like a Scandinavian Mausoleum
178. 7:12and you had to wear neutral colors all
179. 7:14the time just to call yourself a
180. 7:15minimalist and that left out a lot of
181. 7:17people from cultures who celebrate bold
182. 7:19and vibrant colors and textures
183. 7:21minimalism was literally whitewashed in
184. 7:24more ways than one now if you talk to
185. 7:26anyone in the minimalist World they will
186. 7:28tell you that color scheme and cultural
187. 7:30background have nothing to do with the
188. 7:32minimalist movement you simply have to
189. 7:34make choices about your belongings with
190. 7:36intention and this is I think probably
191. 7:39the biggest problem minimalism had many
192. 7:41of the qualities that a cultural surge
193. 7:43like this needs to be successful a
194. 7:46distinct aesthetic a cultural
195. 7:48significance that is counter-cultural in
196. 7:50some way and the right timing people
197. 7:53were tired of their [ __ ] the attic full
198. 7:55of stuff they forgot about the garage
199. 7:56with no room for a car and minimalism
200. 7:59was the first popular culture Trend that
201. 8:01targeted that directly but what it
202. 8:03lacked was something to feed the beast
203. 8:05that makes our world go round
204. 8:07consumerism part of the reason why
205. 8:09minimalism didn't die out faster than it
206. 8:11did is because it did a pretty good job
207. 8:13at rejecting the status quo that our
208. 8:15capitalist consumer Society has deemed
209. 8:18normal but beyond the gray t-shirts and
210. 8:21monochromatic kitchen cabinets and
211. 8:23whatnot there wasn't really anything to
212. 8:26buy and sadly our whole world like it or
213. 8:29not is built on buying stuff and without
214. 8:32that fundamental piece it was very
215. 8:35unlikely that minimalism had a chance
216. 8:37the fact that a cultural movement based
217. 8:40on not buying things reached this level
218. 8:42of popularity is kind of mind-boggling
219. 8:45and for a moment people started to see
220. 8:47that buying stuff endlessly wasn't
221. 8:49sustainable in more ways than one and
222. 8:52quite honestly I think it is the
223. 8:54mindfulness piece of minimalism or the
224. 8:57intentionality part that everybody kind
225. 9:00of forgot changing the way that your
226. 9:02brain reacts to that advertisement or
227. 9:04that comment from a friend is extremely
228. 9:07difficult and if we were going to fight
229. 9:09the billions of dollars that
230. 9:10corporations spend trying to get us to
231. 9:13buy stuff every single day we were going
232. 9:15to need more than a really clean
233. 9:17apartment to convince us not to so in
234. 9:20some ways I wouldn't say that minimalism
235. 9:21has failed because because in a sense we
236. 9:24always just kind of knew that capitalism
237. 9:26would win and for many people including
238. 9:29myself minimalism was a really good
239. 9:31thing seeing and hearing from all these
240. 9:34people that they also felt anxiety
241. 9:36around their stuff that they also hated
242. 9:39shopping was a sudden validation for me
243. 9:43that I didn't need to buy more things so
244. 9:46no minimalism is no longer trending Matt
245. 9:49diovella is not posting as often anymore
246. 9:52and yeah I've moved on too but I would
247. 9:55like to think that maybe minimalism has
248. 9:58infected some part of our cultural
249. 10:02makeup for the better but let us know
250. 10:04what you think of minimalism down below
251. 10:06and if you like this video remember to
252. 10:07like it and if you enjoy our content
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254. 10:12Wednesday
255. 10:13[Music]
256. 10:20thank you