Minimalism on YouTube: The Formation and Potential Rise of the Modern Minimalist Lifestyle Among Millennials
I recently found this song called “Music for Pieces of Wood” by Steve Reich. It’s an interesting percussion piece, but it’s not for everyone. (Sidenote: I recommend listening at least a minute to get a feel for the song) This piece is an example of minimalism in music. The simple rhythm, the repetitive melody, and the use of few instruments make the song sound very minimal and simple. For this project, I will not look at minimalism in music, but on the minimalist lifestyle in the modern time period. My research question is this: How is YouTube participating in the formation and potential rise of the modern minimalism lifestyle among American millennials?
Definitions: Minimalism, Consumerism, Millennials
The Merriam Webster dictionary will define minimalism as “a style or technique (as in music, literature, or design) that is characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity.” This definition provides straightforward and standard definition of the concept of minimalism, but it doesn’t specifically define the minimalism lifestyle. There seems to be no definitive or single definition for what minimalism is among those who practice the minimalist lifestyle. The Minimalists, a pair of men who practice the minimalist lifestyle, describe minimalism on their website as being “… a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important — so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.” The Simple Lionheart Life website , a website about simple living and the minimalist lifestyle, summarizes minimalism as, “…the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from it.” The common theme in these definitions appears to be the intentional focus on the things that each individual person values and getting rid of all the other distracting things. Something worth noting about minimalism is that there is no limit as to how many or what kind of items someone can own. Despite popular culture’s depictions of the minimalist as someone who owns literally nothing, a minimalist can own as many items as they chose. Someone who owns 20 things and someone who owns 50 things are both considered minimalists as long as their items are what they consider valuable or necessary to have in their life. Another important definition to clarify is consumerism. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines consumerism as the, “(Excessive) emphasis on or preoccupation with the acquisition of consumer goods.” Consumerism is commonly seen as the opposite to minimalism because consumerism highly values owning many things whereas minimalism rejects the idea of owning more items than necessary. The last definition that is important to define is millennials. According to the Pew Research Center, millennials include “anyone born between 1981 and 1996 (ages 23 to 38 in 2019) is considered a Millennial, and anyone born from 1997 onward is part of a new generation.” The reason for clarifying this term is due to the confusion as to who exactly belongs in the millennial generation.
A Brief Informal History of Minimalism in the United States
There is no established and formal history of the minimalist lifestyle, but the minimalist website Minimalism Co. lays out this timeline. The idea of minimalism and minimalist living has been around for hundreds of years, but in the United States, minimalism and minimalist living appear to start with Henry David Thoreau and other transcendentalists in the 1800s and their writings of a simplistic and solitary life. Later, in the 1900s, minimalism was popularized by art and artists in the U.S. Specifically, the minimalist lifestyle itself began to gain traction in the 1990s with the “simple living movements.” In the 2000s, minimalists became to use blogging to share ideas and the popularity of blogging helped to further popularize minimalism. (“History of Minimalism: How the Minimalist Movement Happened”) However, the Great Recession, in 2007 through 2009, propelled minimalism into mainstream culture. For example, minimalism could be seen in the aesthetics of homes and items. At the time, white walls and clean spaces were popular in homes. Additionally, the first iPhone promoted itself as being “simple and sleek” which reflected the moving attitude toward minimalism in items too. In 2020, minimalism continues to have popularity. Much like blogging helped the popularity of minimalism back in the 2000s, I argue that social medias, like YouTube in particular, are participating in defining what minimalism is and are contributing to the rise of minimalism in the current moment and how the rise of minimalism is likely to continue to rise as social media promotes minimalism and as the U.S economy is currently in recession.
Minimalism on YouTube: Case Studies
YouTube has an array of people who post minimalism centered videos, and I will focus on dissecting three YouTube videos from three different creators. I argue that these videos are helping to shape modern day minimalism by showing the aesthetics of minimalism and the ideologies of minimalism.
Matt D’Avella
Matt D’Avella is an American YouTuber with three million subscribers. Under the “About Me” tab on YouTube, D’Avella describes himself as a minimalist and filmmaker. One look at his YouTube channel shows how nearly all of his videos center around the application of minimalism to different areas of life like money, food, or routines.
Let’s look at his most popular video which is “A Day in the Life of a Minimalist.”
Interestingly, this video starts with D’Avella pretending that his life as a minimalist is extremely bare and devoid of anything. At around the 46 second mark in the video, D’Avella says “Some have asked me: ‘what about things that bring you joy?’ I got rid of that as well.” D’Avella is clearly aware of the stereotypes of those who practice minimalism as being people who will waste literally nothing and who will own literally nothing. Not even emotions like joy. He is making fun of these stereotypes by showing how silly they sound and look.
Then, D’Avella shifts from this funny dramatization of his life as a minimalist to a more accurate depiction. However, he does acknowledge that he does fit one stereotype of a minimalist. He does wear the same outfit every day. One look at the D’Avella’s home provides insight into how the home of a modern-day minimalist looks like. D’Avella has white walls and a home with few possessions. The color palette of his home is soft pastel colors as opposed to loud bright colors. This color palette is popular through D’Avella’s videos and in other YouTube videos as well. The few possessions imply how D’Avella has applied the idea of minimalism to his possessions and only has what he values or needs.
A common theme in D’Avella’s videos is the lack of excess. He doesn’t overwhelm his video with visual effects, editing, or music. D’Avella will sometimes cut the music and have only him speaking to the audience. Whenever music is playing, the music in the video can be described as a lo-fi hip hop track and a jazz track and they help to create relaxing and laid-back vibe for the viewer. The structure of the video itself can be described as minimalist and simply structured. D’Avella starts the video with a funny hook, then goes through with describing and showing how his daily life goes and ends with summarizing what he thinks makes his life different from non-minimalists. Lastly, the ideas of minimalism presented in this video are the most evident at the end of the video when D’Avella describes his intentionality with his time and his daily activities. This demonstrates how minimalism is a diverse ideology that can be applied to other aspects of life, like time and daily activities, not just possessions.
Ashlynne Eaton
Ashlynne Eaton is a YouTuber who originates from Canada, but she currently lives in the United States. She has over 172,000 subscribers. She describes herself in her “About Me” tab to be a creator focused on “simplicity and minimalism.” One look at her videos shows plenty of videos focused on minimalism, decluttering, and general life tips.
Let’s look at her video called “Minimal + Cozy APARTMENT TOUR | Two Bedroom Apartment”
First, we see the color palette of her minimalist home is made of neutral and dark colors. For instance, her bedroom includes white walls, dark green plants, beige bedsheets, and brown pots.
The color choices reflect a calm and simple environment. We can also see the cleanliness and simplicity of this room since there are not many items here to crowd the area. Eaton appears to own more items than D’Avella but both YouTubers emphasize only having the necessary and valuable items. Also, the music of this video is similar to D’Avella’s music since it is a calm lo-fi hip hop track which gives a relaxing and modern vibe. The inclusion of music in these minimalism videos to develop a mood is important because it demonstrated Lev Manovich’s principle of modularity. Manovich describes modularity when “These elements [of media] are assembled into larger-scale objects but continue to maintain their separate identities. The objects themselves can be combined into larger objects — again, without losing their independence.” (Manovich 29). In this case, the music in the video can be removed from the video and the music will not lose it’s meaning. Furthermore, Eaton’s video can be taken into other forms of media, like in my project, and the video will simultaneously add meaning to my project while not losing its own meaning. As for ideas and content, Eaton mentions her love of plants and the multiple plants that she owns. This is reflecting that idea in minimalism of owning things that are valuable to you. Additionally, Eaton repeatedly mentions the words “simple” and “functional” which suggests she values simplicity and functionality in her home.
Ronald L. Banks
Ronald L. Banks is a YouTuber living in the United States. He has over 112,000 subscribers. One look at his channel shows he makes videos relating to minimalism and life advice.
Let’s look at one of his videos called “Decluttering is taking longer than I thought, here’s why.”
In terms of aesthetics, Banks’ video looks very similar to D’Avella’s and Eaton’s. Banks also has mostly neutral and dark colors in his home as we can see in this screenshot of his living room/kitchen. He has little furniture and a clean, simple home.
There was one main difference between Banks’ video and the other two YouTubers. It was the very conversational and honest feel of the video. There was no music in the video, so Banks was just talking to audience about his journey toward getting rid of things he doesn’t need. This video and the other two videos are clear examples of the importance of narrative in media and the database. As N. Katherine Hayles mentions, “…the primary purpose of narrative is to search for meaning, making narrative an essential technology for humans, who can arguably be defined as meaning-seeking animals” (Hayles 180). These YouTubers could have combined the images, quotes, and music in their videos without speaking a word and the audience would have gotten some meaning out of it. However, these YouTubers created stories for their videos to tie the images, sounds, and words to have a cohesive meaning.
Minimalism According to Minimalism YouTube Videos
To quickly summarize, YouTube videos like those I have presented all participate in creating what modern minimalism looks like and what it means. Through these videos, we see that modern minimalism has few items, neutral and dark colors, and a calm and modern vibe. We can also see that the ideology of modern minimalism centers around intentionally, owning things that give value to your life, and making minimalism customizable to each person’s life. Minimalism will look different for everyone, so there are no one-size fits all for how minimalism will be implemented in everyone’s life. It is these ideas, aesthetics, and feelings that these videos convey that really shape how people think or picture what modern minimalism looks like.
The Irony of Minimalism on YouTube
Marshall McLuhan argued that “the medium is the message” (McLuhan 7). Specifically, the medium itself provides a message even if it is incapable to literally deliver a message. According to McLuhan, “the ‘message’ of any medium or technology is the change of scale, or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs” (McLuhan 8). That being said, the YouTube platform itself delivers a message. YouTube is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, video streaming platform on the internet. Video streaming platforms like YouTube have changed how people consume media in the modern age and this is only one of the messages that can be extracted from YouTube generally. Specifically related to minimalism, the YouTube interface presents itself as a minimalist and modern service. It only uses black, red, blue and white throughout its interface. It uses simple and straightforward icons. However, YouTube is a business who uses advertising for profit. The constant forms of advertisement on the interface reveal that YouTube has commercial interests. Despite minimalism videos arguing for a less distracted life and an anti-consumerist attitude, these ideas are undermined by YouTube’s advertising that pushes for buying things and consumerism. McLuhan also says, “Many people would be disposed to say that it was not the machine, but what one did with the machine, that has its meaning or relation.” However, McLuhan argues that it is not just the literal message that matters but the message that the medium itself also matters. The advertising on YouTube is a clear demonstration of the capitalist society we live in and how capitalism works in digital and online spaces.
Minimalism on Social Media: All About Looks?
It could certainly be argued that minimalism on social media is about looks and people are depicting themselves as minimalists to appear cool. For some people, this could certainly be the case. However, not everyone who is on social media is doing it for appearances sake. Videos like Matt D’Avella’s not only help to determine what modern-day minimalism looks like but discuss the further implications of living in a consumerist and capitalist society. For example, Matt D’Avella made a video talking in depth about Black Friday.
Here, he addresses the intention of Black Friday as being a business technique trying to get people to buy more things and spend more money. D’Avella shares his concern about how most Black Friday shoppers are likely people who are living paycheck to paycheck and cannot afford to be spending so money or increasing their credit card debt. Additionally, D’Avella addresses the advertisements online and how these are psychologically trying to get people to spend more money and how they target users to buy more things. For example, D’Avella mentions how online stores tell shoppers to buy a certain amount of money and they will get free shipping. Taking it even further, D’Avella addresses the popular shopping haul videos on YouTube. So, D’Avella is aware about how the internet and YouTube in particular participates in the consumerist culture through advertising and it’s content. For example, a quick search will reveal that “haul videos” are fairly popular on YouTube.
D’Avella ends the videos by calling on viewers to not fall into the Black Friday fever and to be more intentional about their purchases. Funnily, D’Avella calls on viewers to me more “materialistic.” His definition of “materialistic” is to deeply care about the possessions we do have and not treat our possessions as entirely disposable and replaceable. This call to be more “materialistic” is interesting since D’Avella is taking the concept of materialism and shaping it to fit a more minimalistic approach. Importantly, D’Avella ends the video by laying out specific actionable tips for viewers to implement into their own lives. For example, he mentions how on holidays, viewers can make a homemade gift as opposed to buying something in a store. This video is evidence of how there are YouTubers who acknowledge the consumerist and materialistic society we live in and the ways that society tries to get people to buy things online as well as in person. Also, these YouTubers are actively trying to provide advice as to how to resist and change their shopping habits. Yet, they also recognize how effective advertising is on everyone.
Factors Contributing to The Potential Rise of Minimalism Among Millennials
I think that social media like YouTube is likely going to help the rise of the modern minimalist lifestyle among millennials for two reasons. The first reason is because social media would be an equally effective tool to spread the message and ideology of the minimalist lifestyle as blogging. As I previously mentioned, the modern minimalist movement was originally popularized by blogging in the 2000s. At this time, social media wasn’t popular yet, so blogging became the popular medium for minimalism content online. Fast-forwarding to the 2010s and 2020s, the popularity of social media could likely mean further growth for minimalism just like blogging did in the 2000s. As a platform, YouTube specifically is fairly popular among all age groups in the U.S, but it is slightly more popular among the younger generations. (Statistia). Therefore, YouTube has a fairly large millennial audience that minimalism related videos can potentially reach
The second reason is because other societal forces like the climate crisis and the economy are making it more likely for millennials to search out minimalism. 70% of people 18 to 34 years old report being very concerned with climate change versus 56% of people 55 or older (Bellew et al). The younger generations are more concerned with climate change, so they are more likely to be drawn to the minimalist philosophy which could be an alternative to consumerism. As for the economy, minimalism also became more popular in the 2000s due to the 2008 economic recession. Currently, the COVID-19 recession, as reported by the World Bank, is happening which will likely cause another resurgence in minimalism’s popularity.
Conclusion
Minimalism in YouTube videos is depicted as a movement primarily concerned with intentionality and placing value on only the useful or necessary things. These videos also portray modern minimalism as being a movement that aesthetically focuses on neutral and dark colors, where people have limited amount of possessions, and where minimalist is portrayed as being adaptable to anyone’s lifestyle. Additionally, outside factors along with the popularity of social media likely mean minimalism will become more widespread and millennials are likely to turn to social media like YouTube for minimalism content. In the video I used for my example, Ashlynne Eaton ends the video by saying that she hopes that her apartment tour served as inspiration for viewers. Minimalist YouTubers are ultimately hoping that viewers will change their lifestyle with their videos. This research is showcasing how the digital technologies we use can have impact on us individually and on society as a whole.
Works Cited
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG2GJZcBKOE
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