There’s a trend that’s been quietly gaining momentum over the past few years. You’ve probably noticed it on social media—people posting photos of their nearly empty apartments, a single mug on the counter, a bed with no side table. It’s the “Minimalist Life” tag, and it’s not just aesthetic. According to a recent survey, nearly 4 in 10 urban Chinese millennials say they have actively reduced their possessions in the past year. And in Japan, the term dan sha ri—“giving up, discarding, letting go”—has sold millions of books. So what’s really going on?
One of the first things I thought was: these young people aren’t just decluttering their closets. They’re making a quiet protest against a system that promises happiness through consumption, but delivers the opposite. The data backs it up. A 2022 study from the University of Chicago found that after adjusting for inflation, the median income for 25–34 year olds in the U.S. had barely moved since 2000, while the cost of housing, education, and healthcare has skyrocketed. In China, the story is similar: the average home price in first-tier cities is now 30 times the median annual salary. When the price of a “full life” keeps rising, one rational response is to redefine what “full” means.
But it’s not just about money. The deeper driver is cognitive load. Think about it: every object in your space makes a tiny demand on your attention. The shirt you haven’t worn in three years, the gadget you bought on impulse, the stack of unread books—they all whisper “you should use me” or “you wasted money.” A famous study in Psychological Science (2004) found that people with cluttered homes had higher cortisol levels and were more likely to procrastinate on decisions. So when you see young people tossing out half their wardrobe, they’re not just cleaning. They’re reclaiming mental bandwidth.
Let’s look at a concrete case. In 2018, a viral Weibo post documented a Beijing programmer who moved from a 70-square-meter apartment to a 20-square-meter studio after getting rid of all non-essential items. He reported spending 30% less time on housework, 50% less on shopping, and a noticeable drop in anxiety. Was he an outlier? Maybe. But his story resonated with millions—because it touched on a universal tension: we know we have too much, but we feel powerless to stop.
Another angle is the shift from “having” to “being.” The philosopher Erich Fromm wrote about this in the 1970s: humans oscillate between a mode of having (accumulating possessions, status, money) and a mode of being (experiencing, growing, connecting). For decades, consumer culture pushed us toward having. Now, a growing segment of young people are voting with their wallets—they spend less on things, more on travel, courses, or simply time with friends. A 2023 report from McKinsey found that “experience spending” among Chinese Gen Z grew 35% year over year, while goods spending grew only 8%. That’s not a fad. That’s a structural shift in values.
Of course, not everyone can afford to choose minimalism. For low-income households, “having less” isn’t a lifestyle—it’s a constraint. The real story here isn’t about poverty. It’s about free will in a system designed to overwhelm you with options. The young professionals who embrace dan sha ri are not necessarily poor. They’re rebelling against the paradox of choice. As psychologist Barry Schwartz famously argued, more choices lead to lower satisfaction. By actively reducing options—fewer clothes, fewer gadgets, fewer subscriptions—they increase the quality of each choice that remains.
Now, let’s be honest. I once thought minimalism was a fad for the rich. But after digging into the research, I changed my mind. It’s actually a smart coping mechanism for a world that’s too fast, too loud, and too full. The irony is that in trying to have less, you gain more—time, calm, focus. And that’s not just philosophy. It’s a practical framework for surviving the 21st century.
So the next time you see a young person proudly showing off their empty room, don’t assume they’re poor or pretentious. They might just have figured out something that the rest of us are still struggling with: that the best way to live with more is to start with less.