What is it?
I heard the term while listening to one of my favorite podcasts (OK, I think my favorite podcast), The Survival Podcast. Don't let the name throw you, this show is really about self-reliance and sustainability. Topics range from gardening to financial debt to wilderness survival and everything in between. Anyway, a listener sent in a link to this YouTube video: Your Yard is Evil. Very funny, very pithy, well worth the few minutes to watch. Good intro to the term.In short, Status Quo Bias (SQB) is doing something because it's always been done or everyone else does it. Like growing a lawn, despite the silliness of the whole idea. It isn't always an old thing. In fact, I think some of our SQBs are fairly new and equally as silly. I do and learn a lot of my skills despite, or to combat SQB. Let's look at a few, as examples.
Eating out So many Americans do it. It's faster and easier, and has become the norm in many households. Yet it's costly, often bad for our health, and does it save time, really? Actually cooking and eating as a family seems to break from SQB at this point.
Car maintenance I'm not thinking of the big stuff, like replacing a cracked head, but things like changing a tire, checking your oil, radiator, and tire pressure, or being able to put on a spare all seem to have gone by the wayside. There was a time when you learned this at the same time you learned to drive, but it seems we're more than willing to rely on AAA or the various service vans that prowl the highways. But what if your have an issue on a back road and your cell phone is dead? Or, better yet, what if you could have prevented it by keeping up on some of those little items?
Carrying a knife I've talked about this before, but it is an example of SQB. As a kid, I carried a pocket knife all sorts of places, even sometimes to school. It was a tool, something you needed to have around. I have one in my pocket as I type this, and 2 more in easy reach. Yet, pull one out today and you get such interesting reactions! More often than not, it's a moment of concern followed by questions of why you need one. This is usually while you're doing something like opening a box, cutting some tough tape or cord, or one of those stupid blister packs everything comes in. My current preferred response is to stare at someone with slight disbelief and respond along the lines of "Because no one else does" or "For things like this!"
I could go on and on, but I'd love to know what you see as SQB. And, more importantly, I want us all (myself included) to think about it more and decide "Am I doing this just because of the status quo?"
Eating Out as an SQB is just plan stunning to me. I know it is the norm from dieticians as well as financial advisers who indicate many Americans spend more in restaurants than in grocery stores.
ReplyDeleteBut this point was really driven home when my daughter's friend was at our house for dinner. He commented whenever he ate over I always cooked. Not sure where he was going with his comment I asked, "What does your family usually do for dinner?". Her replied that they got take out 5-7 nights a week and what night it was determined if they were getting Chinese, Pizza, McDonalds, etc!
In contrast, our family often goes months without having take-out for dinner and many of parties/gatherings specifically revolve around cooking. In fact our next home expansion will be happening to our kitchen! Also, I can't wait for you to cover cooking as a skill :)
Anyway, this status quo is so foreign to me I'm still amazed by it whenever it comes up.
Sadly, we once fell into this SQB. We've gotten much better at this in recent years, but we know many people who don't cook much or at all.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have most of a grilling post written up, just need to add in my pictures. :)
My Dad suffers from SQB in another variant. He refuses to do anything the way everybody else does. I've seen some ingenious solutions come out of him, and then a whole lot that is just plain wrong.
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