Our neighbours across the ditch enjoy the simple life and are happier for it.
A study led by the University of Otago found Kiwis were happier and more satisfied when they adopted sustainable lifestyles and resisted the temptations of consumerism.
Study co-author Associate Professor Leah Watkins said researchers analysed data from a representative sample of more than 1000 New Zealanders, made up of 51 percent men and 49 percent women, with a median age of 45 and a median annual household income of $50,000.
Dr Watkins said they found the commitment to simple living, or “voluntary simplicity”, led to wellbeing through providing more opportunities for personal interaction and social connection, such as community gardens, sharing resources, and peer-to-peer lending platforms.
She said consumer culture promoted happiness as being typically associated with high levels of income and the capability it afforded to acquire and accumulate material possessions.
“However, research is clear that attitudes to, and experiences of, materialistic approaches to life do not lead to increases in happiness or wellbeing. Nor do they lead to sustainable consumption necessary for planetary health.”
Dr Watkins said between 2000 and 2019, global domestic material consumption increased by 66 percent, tripling since the 1970s to reach 95.1 billion metric tons.
She said growing consumer affluence and higher living standards had resulted in warnings of alarming trends of environmental degradation from human consumption.
“This, coupled with global warming and post-pandemic health and financial anxieties, has led researchers and policymakers to call for a better understanding of the links between simple consumer lifestyles and wellbeing.”
Co-author Professor Rob Aitken said, however, this didn’t mean throwing out all worldly possessions.
“It’s not directly the commitment to material simplicity that leads to wellbeing, but the psychological and emotional need fulfilment that derives from relationships, social connection, community involvement and a sense of living a purposeful and meaningful life,” Dr Aitken said.
“In a world where billionaire weddings are treated like state occasions and private yachts are the new status symbols, voluntary simplicity offers a quiet, powerful counter-narrative — one that values enough over excess, connection over consumption, and meaning over materialism,” he said.
Read the full study: Consume Less, Live Well: Examining the Dimensions and Moderators of the Relationship Between Voluntary Simplicity and Wellbeing.
