Black Friday and the Scarcity Brain

How to Unhijack Your Brain

I recently finished reading The Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter. The book primarily explores different forms of addiction and what makes activities like gambling in casinos, scrolling through social media, and, of course, shopping so addictive. Overall, the book is excellent, and if you don't have time to read it, you can listen to one of the podcasts where Michael Easter discusses key topics from the book.

Many of the ideas he presents are highly relevant to what some call the "biggest shopping weekend of the year." I wanted to share some of the insights I found most useful from the book.

To Remove Compulsive Behavior, You Must Break an Element of the Scarcity Loop

According to Easter, the mechanics of addiction or compulsive behavior are surprisingly simple. All you need are three elements to create what he calls the "scarcity loop":

1. Opportunity (e.g., easy access to a shopping app).

2. Unpredictable reward (e.g., uncertainty about how the item will look or work in your wardrobe).

3. Ease of repetition (e.g., completing a purchase with just a few clicks).

These elements are abundant in modern shopping habits, fueled by the never-ending cycle of promotions, discounts, and the ease of access to online shopping apps. Another layer of this mechanism emerges when we post outfits or purchases online. This creates a second scarcity loop: the anticipation of likes and comments, which amplifies the cycle and makes it even harder to break free.

Easter illustrates how optimizing for this scarcity loop has made casinos, social media, and online services so addictive. The key to reducing the addictive power of these loops is to break one or more of their components. For example:

• Remove the opportunity by limiting access, such as shopping only offline.

• Eliminate unpredictability by choosing items you can try in-store, where you gain clarity on how they look before making a purchase.

• Disrupt ease of repetition by adding friction, such as deleting apps or implementing waiting periods before purchases.

Minimalism and overaccumulation are two sides of the same coin

One topic Michael Easter touched upon is how minimalism and hoarding are two sides of the same coin - the desire for control. A minimalist seeks control by ensuring everything is tidy and curated at all times. In contrast, an over-shopper aims to maintain control by acquiring a solution or item for every possible need.

Xue

has recently touched on this topic as well.

Yet, like restrictive diets that lead to “cheat days” or binge eating, minimalism’s restriction often triggers a rebound. With every purge, the desire to fill the emptiness creeps back in. Soon, the cycle repeats—overconsumption, regret, and another purge. This yo-yo of consumption is a loop of highs and lows, leaving no real middle ground, no place to simply live with my things as they are.

To break this cycle, it’s essential to understand the deeper drivers behind these behaviors. Why do you feel out of control? Is it due to a demanding work schedule, stressful life demands, family issues, or something else? Addressing these root causes can help create a more sustainable and balanced relationship with consumption and control.

Our Brains Prefer More to Less, Even if It Leads to Worse Outcomes

In The Scarcity Brain, Michael Easter discusses how, historically, the accumulation of possessions was limited by necessity. People were much poorer than we are today and often had to move frequently, making overaccumulation impractical. However, tribes that were more sedentary tended to accumulate significantly more belongings. For example, in the 18th century, average American had 3 outfits, and Martha Jefferson had a whopping 17. Compare it to now:

Easter also highlights experiments showing that having access to more resources can actually reduce the pleasure of solving problems and lead to worse solutions (!). In the shopping area, having a shopping app with a vast number of options on sale at your fingertips may reduce your creativity and satisfaction compared to figuring out solutions yourself.

I still remember the joy of spending three hours sewing feathers onto my little black dress. It transformed a basic outfit into something NYE-worthy - and the satisfaction I felt far outweighed the convenience of simply buying a new dress.

Embrace Discomfort to Feel Happier

Another idea that resonated deeply with me is the willingness to embrace discomfort. To be honest, I couldn’t pinpoint the exact pages where this concept is discussed in The Scarcity Brain - perhaps it was a synthesis of insights drawn from different sections of the book. However, the core idea is this: in our modern lives, we’ve become so accustomed to solving problems through shopping that even minor inconveniences prompt us to reach for a purchasing solution.

In my own life, I’ve recently noticed examples of this pattern:

• I found myself wanting new boots simply because my current ones are tall, and tucking them into my jeans takes all of five seconds every time I leave the house.

• I felt I needed another T-shirt because my existing ones were in the laundry. I did not iron them soon enough after washing, so I didn’t have enough ready to wear.

• My toddler had dry hands, and instead of creating a ritual of applying our already excellent hand cream together every evening - a bonding moment - I thought about buying her a dedicated cream in a cute pink bottle. Yet, she would probably cherish the attention from me far more than the cream itself.

• When my favorite coffee capsules ran out, I felt annoyed about having to use my husband’s favorite capsules - of which we have plenty - and and almost ordered a new box of Nespresso for myself.

In another time, such minor annoyances wouldn’t have even been noticed, let alone solved by shopping. But now, we (or maybe just me) have grown so used to instant gratification that avoiding discomfort - no matter how trivial - has become second nature. I’ve started paying attention to these moments and asking myself: is this discomfort truly a big deal? Most of the time, it’s not.

Consider Things as Gear, Not Stuff

So, how can we address the scarcity loop and our tendency to accumulate things? Michael Easter suggests a mindset shift: view possessions as gear (tools that serve a specific purpose) rather than as stuff. This means that each piece has to earn its way to be purchased, and not a mindless solution to a minor discomfort. Ironically, the immediate satisfaction from shopping often diminishes the long-term enjoyment of solving a problem yourself.

Awareness alone doesn’t equal action, but I’ve found this perspective particularly helpful during the frenzy of Black Friday sales. Believe it or not, I’m not buying any clothes this Black Friday. I already have a dress ready for my birthday, and nothing else feels urgent.

No matter which side of the shopping spectrum you fall on, I wish you a joyful, balanced, and scarcity-free Black Friday - and a wonderful holiday weekend for my friends in the U.S.!