Our culture pushes us more and more to constantly want to have the latest, the newest and most incredible, we live in an age when there is an excess of resources and information, in this context comes neophilia (the obsession with novelty), an increasingly important personality trait.
People with this exaggerated trend can become obsessed with always having the latest electronic devices, having new experiences, or knowing as much information as possible about a topic. Some of his most characteristic behaviors are non-compliance and a desire to get out of the routine consistently.
- Neofilia is a term created and popularized by many authors in the second half of the twentieth century.
- Among them JDSalinger with his new Hapworth 16.
- 1924 (published in 1965) and Christopher Booker with a book entitled Os Neof-licos (published in 1969).
- And since then its relevance has continued to grow.
In this article we will study the characteristics of neophilia and assess whether this is a problematic feature or if, on the contrary, having it can be an advantage. Let’s go further.
The obsession with novelty involves a number of characteristics that usually occur at the same time in people who have it. Then we’ll see which ones are the most important of all.
Because people with neophilia are constantly looking for new stimuli, they are able to adapt to change faster than most people. This first feature is generally very positive: thanks to it, neophiles can more easily develop qualities, such as resilience, more easily.
It makes sense to think that, for a person obsessed with novelty, routine can become their worst enemy, for these people to do the same thing day after day is one of their greatest nightmares, the truth is that, although no one likes to stand up and perform the same tasks over and over again, for a neophile this situation is particularly painful.
As a result, a person with neophilia will tend to look for constant stimuli and ways to escape their routine, and will also feel trapped in situations where they have very strong commitments to fulfill, which will be a disadvantage when, for example, looking for a stable job or an official partner.
On the other hand, traditions also do not fit with neophilic patterns, these people do not accept that something has to be done in a certain way simply because it has always been so, so they tend to be more creative and innovate more. ; this can compensate for some of the other more negative features.
Although closely related to the above feature, the search for novelty is so important for people with neophilia that it deserves to be studied separately, for these individuals the need to try new things can become their greatest yearning, to the point of becoming an obsession.
New experiences can be addictive, by releasing certain neurotransmitters into the brain, these experiments are able to modify it continuously, so the neophile will have to experience even more extreme sensations next time to feel good.
For this reason, it is not uncommon to find addicts to the news they experience with all kinds of activities, substances and dangerous modes, some, for example, practice extreme sports in a risky way, they can even end up under the effects of drugs or overeating. .
However, in the right proportions, this resource can be beneficial, as long as the momentum of knowledge and discovery of novelty is adequately channeled.
A person with neophilia must constantly experience new things, this makes it difficult for him to be attentive to the same thing for a long time, whether it’s a mobile phone, a couple or a job, his desire for encouragement will lead him to abandon the acquaintance in search of greener areas.
Of course, this has negative consequences for neophiles, who are usually single people because they can’t bear to be constantly with the same people, they also struggle to achieve goals that require constant effort or to maintain stable jobs that other people would give for anything.
If you identify with the characteristics described in this article, you should know that being a neophile is not necessarily a negative thing. The key to it being an advantage, not a disadvantage, is knowing how to channel your need to always look for novelty. If you can concentrate enough to improve key areas of your life, the desire for constant stimulation doesn’t have to be a very serious problem.