Kyle Chayka’s new book, The Longing for Less: Living with Minimalism, is the latest in a raft of publications about reducing physical and mental clutter. But unlike, say, Marie Kondo, Chayka doesn’t care what the inside of your closet looks like. “My writing is a tool for self-awareness, for myself as much as for a reader,” says the author, who remains a sharp and self-reflective critic of minimalism as a lifestyle trend. Here, he tells Stephanie d’Arc Taylor how we need to start thinking about what we’re consuming, and why.

Do you think the human impulse to accumulate has always existed or is it a product of our modern age?
I think both consumerism and accumulation have existed for a very long time. But now people may be realizing that buying more stuff isn’t making them happ...