Why Do We Keep Buying New Stuff?

This is your brain on shopping. Sales, social pressure and FOMO are part of what drive you to “add to cart,” but the craving for new stuff is also rooted in our own biology. Every time we see something novel, whether it’s clothing, food or a refreshed social media timeline, our brains give us a small pulse of the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine. This reward system was great for the prehistoric era—new berry patch: good; saber-tooth tiger: bad—but today, it’s contributing to an overconsumption problem that’s deepening our climate crisis. Between 2000 and 2015, for example, production of clothing, footwear and accessories doubled globally, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. And that doesn’t just mean more stuff. It also means more greenhouse gas emissions, more resources extracted and ultimately, more clothing in landfills. “Novelty enhances the value [of] a product,” says Dr. Uma R. Karmarkar, an assistant professor of consumer psychology at UC San Diego. “For some people, buying th