My short answer is; Yes! I’ve been spending a lot of time analyzing my own buying habits. Asking pointed questions of myself about ‘wants vs needs’, ‘necessary or unnecessary’, and variations thereof. Needs are easy to define. Wants is where things get messy because my brain is really good at convincing me that a want could kinda sorta be a need, right? This limbo and balancing act is a daily battle as I trudge through life. Something shiny is bound to pop up in my Instagram feed, laptop ads, or on a billboard while driving home. I live in consumer purgatory desperately trying to escape. This is where corporate America wants me. They study us, they watch us, they run algorithms and have statistics whiz kids generating numbers on American’s spending habits daily. And, then they target us and we develop certain spending behaviors or relationships with stuff that can sometimes become unhealthy.
Many of us reward ourselves with things such as clothing, household decor, new jewelry, exotic travel, new hobby supplies, etc in the same way I noted we use alcohol from my previous post found here, https://simpleminimalmidlife.com/the-habit-of-wine/. Bad day: go buy yourself something cute. Great day: go buy yourself a new fishing rod or new shoes or a golf club. Empty baskets or shelves in the house? Gotta go find something to fill that space! I’m trying to get past the idea that I deserve something just because I worked hard. My future self might thank me for doing so despite how easy it is to live in the present and how easy the marketers make it for me to spend.
Ads, ads, and more ads!
The average America sees over 4,000 ads per day. And, those ads have trained my brain to become a consummate consumer. Am I truly so blinded by the marketing and the intentional placement of all these ads, products, services, and paraphernalia that I am not even thinking? I mean, what is blind consumerism? The overarching definition is that blind consumerism is when we purchase without cogitation and, many times, we do so to excess. It’s driven by factors such as social media, desire for status, and, in effect, negates genuine need or thoughtful consideration. It often overlooks the ethical, social, and environmental consequences of consumption. Say what? This is why I am starting to think through my purchases.
This is not how I want to live my life. I strive for intentional living yet I get caught in the web of ads selling me things to solve a problem I never knew I had. As a self professed researcher and learner of all things, I dive into those products, read the reviews, place them in a holding pattern in my virtual shopping carts, and I even declutter some things from my house to convince myself that I’m doing the right thing. But, am I? Are any of us? Have we given up caring about the environment, helping the sustainability movement, caring for the planet we call home? I know I haven’t, but the targeted marketing makes it hard to say no.
We are constantly bombarded with marketing and ads determined to steal money from us. Even at the discount stores and donation centers I see products marketed to me at the checkout. Everything and everyone wants your attention. We become numb to it all and we succumb to consumerism and eventually become blinded by it. We don’t even think when we make impulse purchases or grab the candy bar at the checkout counter. We don’t read the fine print anymore. We have been groomed to ignore those things so that we can truly be blind consumers.
If I, or anyone for that matter, want to become more a conscious consumer or want to make changes in our consumption there are other ways! No matter the reason, we can still say no to consumerism and marketing. Take a look at this article about how marketing influences consumer behavior, https://retail-today.com/how-marketing-influences-consumer-behavior-strategies-and-impact-2/. This is eye opening! As I noted earlier, marketing companies study us. They want to learn our behaviors and see what makes consumers tick as they pick apart their spending patterns. My plan moving forward is to be a more conscious consumer. To make better, and more informed choices. To give each dollar a job and to guide my spending to match my desire to be more intentional. If everyone on the planet made a decision to turn a blind eye to a marketing campaign for just one product a month, think about how much better our planet would be and how much fatter those wallets would be, too.