Tagline for modern society: I shop therefore I am
It’s all gotten a little ridiculous hasn’t it. Buy, buy, buy – don’t think just BUY! No money?- use credit! You don’t have enough stuff – you need more stuff; get a bigger house to store it all or rent a cubby at U-Store-It. That’s the new mantra of our hyper-consumeristic society. Well, it isn’t really new, to be honest, but has it ever gotten out of hand.
You wonder why now, when typically there are two ‘bread-winners’ for each household, we have way less savings and owe way more to dept than we did in the 1950’s and 60’s – when typically only the man used to work? It isn’t because of inflation, or higher taxes, or even a government conspiracy. The truth is, we are spending all our money (and money we borrow on credit too of course) buying ‘stuff’. And I know, we have always bought ‘stuff’, but not like we do now. Think about it. Think about all the ‘stuff’ you have at your house. Probably 2+ vehicles (everyone needs their own – even the 18 year-olds), a plethora of TV’s (flat-panel of course; the working tube TV’s just tossed aside), an Xbox/PS3 and a Wii (with Wii-Fit and Guitar Hero), a few different generations of iPods, a dozen or so ‘old’ cellphones – plus the shinny new smart-phone you use now, a PC and a laptop and maybe even a MAC just for fun … snow-ski’s and a snowboard and all the associated gear … a closet stacked high with shoes … a full home gym used now to hang your clothes on … that pile of useless ‘info-mercial’ purchases … basement & garage packed to the rafters with miscellaneous odds and ends ……….. well I can go on and on, the point is we all have way too much ‘stuff’. Everyone of us. That’s where our money went. That’s why now, even with a second income, most households struggle to keep their heads above water. And savings, who has any extra money for that?
We just recently started living like this. People never used to have this much ‘stuff’, every person didn’t need everything. They weren’t obsessed with their things like we are today. “Our materialistic, consumeristic society serves some good though, we are happier right?” Nope. We aren’t happier. How can we be, no matter how much ‘stuff’ we buy, there is always something coming out that is ‘better’, ‘shinier’, ‘faster’ – leaving us always wanting. At a time when our savings are becoming scarce – as well as the planet’s resources – buying more ‘stuff’ is not the answer. So why does the consumerist in me disagree? It’s all in the message I’ve been spoon-fed since before I could walk or talk. I am 34 now, and for my entire life the message has been clearly and oh-so-precisely delivered through the greatest marketing tool ever imagined – the TV. The internet is up there too, now, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the TV. We mindlessly stare at our fancy big screen absorbing the message day in and day out, from birth to grave; buy buy buy. We are led to believe that more ‘stuff’ is better, and the ‘stuff’ we have is old and outdated. Day in and day out the advertising juggernaut is pumping it’s well funded message into our psyche. And it worked. We carelessly spend all our hard earned money on things we don’t truly need in our insatiable appetite to own one of everything. If you are over 50 you might remember a time before TV and our crazy new way of life, and for that, you are one of the lucky ones. You have a grasp on how we used to live and consume. Funny, the ‘good-old days’ are real after all.
Let’s find a way to stop the madness. I don’t have any great revelations on how to do this other than to tell you what I try to do: think before I buy. If I see something I want I will mark it down and wait a few weeks to see if I really need it or if I just felt I needed it at the time. I try to do this for most things, not just big ticket items. The small things like the daily $4 latte’s are important too so pay close attention. Hyper-consumerism is now a way of life, but it hasn’t made us happier, has made us poorer, has seriously increased our dept load and has harmed our environment. It’s time to find a new path for ourselves, a smarter path, where we buy less, save more and live happier. Start today, Nov 26 2010, on Black Friday, by re-evaluating your planned purchases and decide whether you really, truly, need them. Then do it again tomorrow.
This may be true for some. I was born and bread this way like everyone else. The truth must be, as you say, with tv instilling this never enough – depressing feeling. The emotional rollercoaster of “happy with new purchase one day, and now the next week its no longer good enough”. That is a depressing, never win situation.
I turned off tv 2-3 yrs ago and haven’t missed a thing. I have filled my time with hobbies (build something for yourself and the happiness and pride last for years not days), exercise, and sadly more work.
This is where i must disagree. I think there IS an issue of needing two incomes to support even less then one income did in the 50’s. I would suggest it is less to do with stuff (as i don’t buy stuff). There is a giant problem with the fact that a single, average income would not let you pay off a house in 35 years. The ave income in the 50s WOULD let you pay off a home in just 15! There is definitely a huge difference in the “income : living expenses” ratio when compared with the good old days.
I blame mass, over-seas production of tons of disposable items with small profit. At the end of the day, “disposable” is the root cause of the complete shift in economics, lifestyle (lack of respect, lack of earning something), environmental damage. It is not just a theory. Take all the economic, and environmental graphs and plot the invention and acceptance – turned dependence of disposable goods over the other chart. They will coincide.
///JT
You hit the nail on the head with the shift to our ‘disposable lifestyle’. It, in itself, is the CORE of the message I was talking about in the post – the shift was no accident. If you buy it, and throw it away in a short time then you will ultimately buy it again when needed – win win for the company as they are now able to sell more ‘stuff’ – lose lose for our wallets, society in general, and the environment.
Now when it comes to the housing issue you brought up, I have to agree, but not entirely. It is true the cost of home ownership certainly seems to be a lot higher than it was in the 50’s and 60’s, even after taking inflation into consideration. But what you are forgetting is, our houses now are WAY bigger and WAY nicer than they were in the ‘good-old days’. We aren’t content anymore with a nice cozy 2 bedroom with linoleum flooring. In the 1950’s and 60’s it was considered normal for a house to have only one bathroom and it was all too common for 3 boys to share a single bedroom. This isn’t the case anymore. The typical house has more than doubled in size in the last 50 years – literally. And this is true for even the wealthy. Think of all the nice ‘cozy’ cottages up in Muskoka – where the wealthy have cottaged for generations – being torn down to make giant mansion residences. It’s sad really. Many of my friends, without any kids, live in 4+ bedroom houses because it is the ‘norm’. And all those exrtra rooms need to be furnished, decorated and heated and cooled. More costs for rooms that aren’t even needed or barely used. Insane really.
Cutting off the cable though, that’s a good start for sure and is something I am planning in the not too distant future. It simply eats up too much time, and of course is constantly pushing the buy, buy, buy message. I am pretty cautious and do pay attention to how much TV I watch, but at the end of the day it is still too much.
Yes, great point about the houses. We have done this to ourselves with our higher level of expectations in a house. When i had a small apartment i had all i needed. A larger house is more space to clean (using vinegar :), heat, and spend more money on ‘stuff’. This is only north america doing this aswell. All other cultures live in smaller dwellings but the point could be made that it is only due to lack of available space. Even though the above points are valid. I would still counter by saying that the houses from the 50’s are still around and still cost more then the ave. single income could afford.
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Some thing about this post made me make this comment. I have been reading this blog for a while now but felt the need to comment. Buy NOTHING ;-)