Am I Normal?emotions
I feel guilty throwing away old objects — like they have feelings
This is called 'object personification' — attributing mental states and emotions to non-living things. It's driven by the same mirror neuron and empathy systems that make us feel for other people, applied automatically to objects we've formed long associations with. The Marie Kondo method famously exploits this by asking you to thank objects before discarding them.
Have you ever done this?
Be honest — have you ever done this?
Related fact
Research shows that objects used more frequently generate stronger personification feelings — the more an object has served you, the harder it is to discard it as just 'stuff'.