One week it’s an airport security tray filled with carefully tessellated items that represent the owner’s personality, the next it’s a curated fridge shelf decorated with fairy lights and flowers. But is this the acme – or the nadir - of the organising cult? According to some, the trend has gone too far. We are cluttering our mental landscape with our decluttering schemes, say the experts – and when the Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers tells you to put down the duster, you know you’ve been spoken to.
I didn't even know such a thing existed....
“The constant need to keep up with these decluttering and organisational trends is causing genuine mental and physical stress,” says Siân Pelleschi, the APDO president. “People are losing the ability, in some cases, to distinguish between a fad and a method that can benefit their life. They’re experiencing overwhelm and feelings of hopelessness thanks to all these different organisational trends and methods.”
No, thanks to them taking any notice of them. I don't, so I'm perfectly fine.
Decluttering and organising has been a thing since long before the Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo made it a bone fide trend in 2019. But it has now reached heights of unparalleled intensity. The TikTok hashtag #Cleantok has more than 110.4bn views.
Once again, I'm so glad I don't do TikTok.
J’Nae Phillips, senior trend analyst, fashion columnist and creator of the Fashion Tingz newsletter, says these curated visuals are “a way for individuals to express their creativity and values in spaces that might otherwise seem mundane”.
These are the sort of people that drive this stuff? Good grief!
“Sharing images of aesthetic airport trays and meticulously organised fridges on social media isn’t about reducing one’s identity to simplistic snapshots,” she says. “Instead of being reductive, these posts serve as micro-narratives in which we actively reconstruct and recontextualise our identities to align with contemporary trends where online presence is a significant extension of self.”
To which I can only say: PARKLIFE!
Was the original article written by a crappy version of ChatGPT?
ReplyDeleteI think that the key to avoiding fads is just to think for a couple of seconds. There was a TV show called something like Life Laundry which was about assessing the stuff that fills your house and getting rid of all the stuff that you don't need. What it was saying made perfect sense, the participants gained a modest amount of money and a bigger house just by getting rid of all of their worthless tat. I had a massive clear out after seeing it and didn't regret it.
ReplyDeleteStonyground.
Do not let your children learn of this.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise the next time you tell them to tidy their toys away.........
Do not enter their territory bare footed.
"Was the original article written by a crappy version of ChatGPT?"
ReplyDeleteI think most of them are these days.
"I think that the key to avoiding fads is just to think for a couple of seconds. "
I can see why they spread then, when you look at the people pushing them!
"Do not let your children learn of this.
Otherwise the next time you tell them to tidy their toys away........."
Wise words!