This is part 3 of a 3-part article series about minimalism, file storage, and the curious case of YouTube. You can find the other parts using the links below.
- Tips for back-ups and storage management
- YouTube is running out of space
- A Life Lesson: Upper Limits (this article)
We need upper limits
Society has done very well raising our lower limit. Nowadays, most people have food to eat, some roof over their head, some access to technology. We’ve raised the average standard of living, average welfare, average comfort, everything.
Many people talk about this. Many people work on this issue. Basically everyone agrees that it should always be raised.
I think, however, that we’ve forgotten the upper limit.
There should be an upper limit. People should talk about this equally often, work to establish and maintain it equally often.
There shouldn’t just be a minimum wage. There should be a maximum wage.
I know this will never happen, certainly not in my lifetime. I’m not even sure this should be done by government or law—probably not, in fact.
But the least we can do, is apply this personally. The least anyone can do, is individually establish an upper limit for themselves and simply never cross that.
Or, if you happen to own the largest video streaming website in the world (aka YouTube), establish that upper limit for your platform and maintain it.
Anybody who doesn’t agree with your restrictions, is free to … not use your platform! If they really want to upload ten videos a day of themselves talking nonsense to a screen, they can do so in many other ways. Help yourself out! Learn to code! Create your own company! But YouTube will simply not allow it, because it set a completely reasonable and sustainable upper limit.
This isn’t unreasonable; it’s already done
This is not just a pipe dream. How often have we seen some social media app explode in popularity because of restrictions? Because anything you send is removed after X seconds (SnapChat)? Because you have to create a video in the moment and it’s gone/nothing happens otherwise (BeReal)? Because the platform limited all its videos to only a few seconds (TikTok)?
I’ll say it again: restrictions breed creativity, and people will always rise to the challenge.
It’s not stupid to do this. It’s stupid not to do it, and YouTube/Google fell right into the trap.
It’s similar to the state of Hollywood these days. Not so long ago, a “summer blockbuster” could be a simple drama about a handicapped person. Nowadays, everything is just explosions, action and superhero movies with no plot or substance.
Did people’s preferences really change that much, that quickly? Did people secretly hate those previous blockbusters and always crave superhero movies?
No, of course not!
People grow to like whatever is presented to them, whatever it is they can immerse themselves with. You can’t make someone ask for healthy food if you’ve never presented it to them. If superhero blockbusters is all hollywood makes, then that’s all people know and all they ask for/expect.
I think Ford (one of the inventors of the modern car) always said it best: “If I’d asked what people wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
People are used to YouTube having absolutely no limits. They’re used to a lack of upper limit, to endlessly storing stuff, to endlessly scrolling. That’s why they think they can’t go without or that this has to be the way.
It only takes a few major platforms to simply implement upper limits to change that. To make people realize that it’s much healthier and more sustainable to have upper limits. To make them realize they’ve always wanted that.
Flexibility is lost
I am quite poor, always have been. All my possessions are literally placed in an area of just one square meter. If you’ve read any of my articles, you know I have a broken prehistoric computer that can barely handle typing without lagging. I regularly have to move around, sit in noisy and unpredictable environments, you name it.
And yet I am closer to an upper limit than a lower limit. I am closer to having too much of stuff, wanting too much, dreaming of too much, eating too much, being too comfortable, than the other way around.
I am fine. I’ve been producing high-quality projects for a while now with just that. Why do I need more? I don’t even know what the fuck I would buy if I had more space or money. I would just get annoyed if I had a larger computer, or had to organize multiple external hard drives, or had more stuff. It would sap away my energy to actually do stuff and live life if I had to manage loads of subscriptions, insurances, accounts, stuff.
I would probably be quite a bit healthier if supermarkets were still closed on Sunday. Or if my internet didn’t work some of the time, forcing me to stop working and go outside.
It’s the advertisments, the society, the endless pressure that makes us want more. That makes us feel important if we have the most cars, or tells us we’re doing it wrong if we’re not going on 5 expensive holidays a year.
People try to design the perfect life inside their head, which is unattainable for 99% of people. The skills of adaptability and flexibility are lost; skills you only get by working with clear upper limits. The skills of being content with what you have and knowing when enough is enough are lost.
And those are the exact skills I think everyone should have, for a healthier and more sustainable society.
All my best work is a consequence of those restrictions and my flexibility. All the unique games I’ve made, entire genres I’ve invented (like One Paper Games), it’s all because of that. Without it, I would have never had such unique ideas and never actually pursued them.
And by simply establishing an upper limit for myself, all of that is neatly kept within only 15 GB of space.
This is my recommendation
Establish those upper limits for yourself. Others won’t do it for you. Society, capitalism, it all wants you to buy more and think you need more stuff. I don’t expect YouTube to ever impose simple restrictions or limitations, even if it’s absolutely the smartest thing to do to cut costs without ruining anything.
No, you have to do it yourself.
These are some of the upper limits I set myself.
- My entire backups will always fit within that 15 GB limit. (Or whatever similar limit some of the trustworthy free online services provide.)
- I will keep a (rough) limit of 100 games online. (Whatever is surpassed, most outdated, least enjoyed, is minimized.) If you can’t find something fun that fits your tastes among 100 of my best options … then giving 300 options will not help.
- Depending on the novel length (short, mid, long), I will only work on it for 1, 2 or 4 weeks respectively. It has to be done in that time frame; the story can be shortened and simplified if necessary.
- For an album ( = musical project), I only keep the final media and final mixdown, not any of the history or failed takes or whatever.
Moving away from my (creative/digital) projects, these are some of the upper limits of my life.
- I only eat for 8 hours a day. (I accidentally started intermittent fasting a while ago, and just, well, continued.)
- I only need two shoes, three sets of clothes, and no other accessories.
- I will not have more than 5 websites, whatever happens. (I had 8 different domains at some point; bad idea, scaled back the next year.)
- Everything is off or not available by default (such as my wi-fi being off on my phone/computer by default).
- It’s ridiculous how much time you save by simply having that slight action—turn on internet—preventing you from doomscrolling or going on random tangents while working. (And even for my type of work, which is almost completely digital, I do not need internet most of the time.)
As I wrote this, I realized my current hosting for my website (CloudFlare Pages) is actually the perfect example.
Their system has a hard upper limit of 20,000 files.
No, you can’t buy a premium account or “infinite files” or whatever. Their system is simply set up with that upper limit and that’s it. And it’s great.
It forces me to be minimalist with my websites, and be smart about what I include and how.
And nobody is explaining: they are massively popular and host millions of static website on their service. (Which is fast, free, and easy to use. No, I am not sponsored and never will be.)
Upper limits are not only possible, they’re applied in practice to great success. Both on a large scale (entire services / huge hosting companies) and a small scale (personal habits and rules).
Conclusion
Stop defining what you need. Unless you’re literally homeless and starving, you should not be obsessed about your lower limit—about getting more, having more, fighting for some “freedom” of infinite space or possibilities you don’t actually use.
Instead, define what you don’t need. Define very simple and reasonable upper limits you will not cross. You will be healthier, lead a simpler life, waste less time/energy money, and leave less of a footprint on the environment.
And after overcoming the initial reluctance, you’ll realize you’re not lacking for anything and can still live in enough freedom and pleasure. In fact, because of the upper limits, you’re forced to live more and be more creative and go out of your comfort zone.
I do not fear having to work hard, making mistakes, having to find creative workarounds for failing hardware.
I fear becoming complacent and living a very comfortable life that ruins the planet and otherwise achieved nothing of note.
To me, the meaning of life is just to live and do stuff, not to sit still and have stuff. Setting simple and practical upper limits is a very easy and friendly way to achieve this.
If I ever launch my own “platform” for whatever reason, expect there to be loads of upper limits. (I’m most likely to launch a web shop once I have figured out how to professionally print my games and sell those. But don’t quote me on that.)
YouTube would have solved its storage (and cost/scalability) issue decades ago if it kept simple upper limits, or even imposed more of them. I don’t expect them to listen to my advice, but hey, at least I gave it them.
You’re better off doing it yourself and imposing your own upper limits on your lifestyle.
Those were my thoughts in 6,000 words,
Tiamo