Entropy and stress

You buy something new. It's shiny and perfect and owning it gives you a satisfying glow of pleasure. Be it a new car, some kitchenware or some clothing, the acquisition of new material possessions gives you a sense of pride, a sugar-rush of happiness. A trip to the mall, coming home with shopping bags of new stuff, the thrill of new things. Doesn't that feel good?

But after a while, your new toy will begin to tarnish. Stuff ages. Stuff breaks. You lose that sense of its preciousness; it's getting rusty, it's wearing through, it no longer works as well as it once did when it was new. 

This, dear reader, is entropy – the second law of thermodynamics – and the only way in which we know in which direction of time's arrow runs. Things move from order to disorder, to randomness, to chaos. Nothing old and broken will spontaneously return to its new state. 

No matter how careful you are with your new car, some oaf is always out there to scratch it in the supermarket car park. Yes, you can take care not to avoid undue wear and tear on your possessions, and then you become the custodian of things. As a custodian of things, you get stressed as entropy gets the better of them. Keeping an old car running needs extraordinary dedication. For some folk, it's what they want from life, it defines them. I'd argue that as a society, having a direct connection with the past in the form of old furniture, vintage clothes, mediaeval architecture and so on is extremely important, and I salute people engaged in keeping the ravages of entropy away from things that should be preserved for future generations.

But for the vast majority of the stuff that surrounds us, its ultimate fate will be landfill – or in an optimal world – recycling. Stuff should be looked after, yes; it should last as long as we can make it last. Ultimately though, we need to find a balance between obsessively caring for our stuff and mindlessly abusing it so that it ceases to be fit for purpose far too soon.

The answer – own less, buy less.

The fewer material possessions we have, the less stress we get from worrying about them when they scratch or tarnish or tear or break. We kid ourselves that we need something when actually we don't; we are sold stuff we don't really need, and when that stuff we didn't really need starts playing up or breaking down, we feel stress – consciously or subconsciously. Stressors are bad for our health; we need them out of our lives. Think before you buy. That's one more thing you don't need to worry about breaking down.

[Talking of things breaking, yesterday my 2016 Huawei phone finally packed up. For the past 15 months, I've been using it (minus SIM card) only to measure my activity with its health-tracker app, so that I could compare like for like with my medium-to-high intensity walking in previous years. Now without it, I've been finally forced to deploy the health tracker app in my 2023 Samsung phone. Wow! It's so much better. More functions, voice notification each kilometre, telling me time and number of paces – I wish I'd been using it sooner.]

This time eight years ago:
I am environmentally illiberal

This time ten years ago:
Thoughts on brewing and investing

This time 11 years ago:
Cruisers and low-riders - cycle fashion

This time 14 years ago:
Gone is the threat of Państwo Smoleńskie

This time 16 years ago:
Bike ride to Święty Krzyż