Regarding "whitespace" - I personally find head room to be a lot more psychologically meaningful that square footage (in other words, I'd rather live in a 1,000 sf house with 9ft ceilings than a 2,000 sf house with 7 foot ceilings, although the analogy breaks down eventually). And the advantage of head room is that you can't fill it with junk :-)
I wonder whether "digital packratting" (collecting e-books, scanning everything to Evernote, collecting gaming "trophies") can replace the hoarding need that is so important to many people, but without the downside of being burried in clutter.
Well, at least it's harder to fill ceiling with junk. Tall shelves and loft beds certainly help...
I do agree with you, I'm really looking for something with larger ceilings once I have to get my own apartment again. Even if it's just in the middle of the room (i.e. under the roof). But there has to be some degree of horizontal space, too for that to work. 6x6x10 would be a bit weird.
I think clutter is some kind of vicious circle. Once you start, it's hard to stop. And starting is pretty easy if you're not really vigilant -- things like long work hours, kids and long commutes quickly start your hoard. And if your life doesn't work out the way it does, you're prone to nostalgia and memorabilia.
Smaller accommodations make it harder to start that. But there's small, and there's tiny...
I wonder whether "digital packratting" (collecting e-books, scanning everything to Evernote, collecting gaming "trophies") can replace the hoarding need that is so important to many people, but without the downside of being burried in clutter.