Buried alive: reclaim the home
On our door we have a sign, 'No Junk Mail'. It seems like such a simple sign but it has profound effects on life as we know it. I have written a little about advertising in various ways recently and today was talking with @fknmayhem about online profiling and targeting. I joked, I am a terrible target.
The reason is that besides Steemit, I hardly use sites that contain advertising and since I am not a large user of apps, I don't get a lot of adverts pushed to me through the phone either. My feed at Steemit is not algorithmic, it is chosen and my 'feed' in the home is selected also.
My wife and I don't watch television and my daughter is yet to sit down in front of a screen. In our house, there are no catalogues and pretty much all that covers flat surfaces are kids books and paper and pencils.
For me, it has had a large effect on how much 'demand' I have for new products. I am one of those people that 'likes to shop' yet, over the last 2 years that we have unconsciously banished advertising from the home, the drive to buy new things has been severely reduced.
Advertisers are masters at targeting human hard wiring and playing on our emotional and psychological weaknesses to desire and demand, be the first on the block with or scared to miss out on, whatever they happen to be selling. Every advert is carefully crafted to make us want it. You might think you are immune but, how would you know?
Spring cleaning time is coming up and when you rummage through your storage or garage this year, have a look at just how much crap you have that you barely used and never needed. Have a good look at how much you have spent on it yet, were hesitant to buy cryptocurrencies because you 'might lose' your money. Look at that junk.. You DID lose your money.
But, this isn't just about the financial and commercial consumption side of things. What we surround ourselves with has a large effect on our thinking and our skillsets. Instead of leaving trash content around your living room, switch it out with some reading that challenges you, makes you think, helps you grow. It will be one of the best investments you will ever make. An investment in yourself.
And this is the crux of the matter right here. We have been programmed to purchase all manner of things that make our life more pleasurable, easier and enjoyable but, how many of those things are skills? The purchasing behaviors we have not only take away a lot of the money we have to invest, they take away the time we have to invest in growing our range.
In this world there is nothing more enjoyable than doing all the hard work to develop a skill and then using it to accomplish something value adding. But, we have been lied to as we have been told that happiness can be purchased through new clothes, cars, houses, planes, hotels and diamond rings.
Consumption in this world is at an all time high, as is depression. How strong do you think the correlation is when you factor in all the desires for things that are just out of economic reach? Your neighbor has one of those though. Jealous?
Our minds have become buried in a trash heap of irrelevance and unnecessary yet we think just one more item, one more latest version and we will be happy. Take a look around your house, scroll through your feeds, pay attention on your commute to work and note, how much is designed to get you to buy something and how much is created to help you actually improve?
But, it doesn't affect us...
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
Now that you mention it, I remember sitting down with a marketer, and having him discuss his job with me. You're damn right, everything they say or do is designed to make you want whatever they're selling, even when you don't need it, and these include ideas. I've always hated clutter and seeing things I don't use frequently lying around, but after reading Richard Templar's, "Rules of Life" , I'm even more cautious of what I do with my money as regards purchases. And like you @tarazkp, have suggested, everyone should too.
I’m at a point in my life where peace of mind has become one of my highest priorities. I want to be at peace, and I want to get better and better at allowing things to follow their natural course, without desperately trying to force them into completion, because that would only create a lot of unnecessary stress, pain and suffering into my life, and I don’t want that.
There are things in life that require more time than others. Time to blossom, to develop, to grow, to mature… And if we don’t learn the art of patience, by allowing life to follow its natural course, chances are that we will continue to force and resist the natural flow of things, inflicting a lot of unnecessary pain onto ourselves and onto those around us.
Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.
Patience is not just about waiting for something… it’s about how you wait, or your attitude while waiting.
Thank you @tarazkp
Our society is very consumption based and I think it's smart to keep your kids away from these influences as long as possible. There will come a time though where that's just not possible anymore since she would lose out on too much stuff. Kids are cruel sometimes, and those who don't follow the new hypes or fon't have the cool new shoes or whatever get left out. Of course that's still years away feom your daughter, but at some point the advertisement industry just forces itself into our lives...
Cruel kids aren't much of a problem imo as no matter what it is, a target is a target and trying to provide everything that makes a child 'not a target' makes them even more so. When it comes to skill development hoever, there is a need for some products but, not to be buried by them.
You're probablt doing a better job of banishing it than I am. Although I don't subscribe to magazines and I don't watch live tv, I noticed while rewatching The Big Bang Theory that there are a lot of products they advertise. There is product placement constantly in the show... except bottled water which apparently they couldn't get a sponsor for (they had Fiji for a while, but then changed to generic.)
It can be difficult to avoid spending, but when I do spring cleaning and see the things that I purchased that I didn't use, it motivates me to cut down on spending even more. Not only can I save money, but then I have less clutter too!
I stopped watching most series (other than GoT and Westworld) because they are so formulaic and predictable it just wasn't time well spent. I find they annoy me more than anything now.
"Have a good look at how much you have spent on it yet, were hesitant to buy cryptocurrencies because you 'might lose' your money. Look at that junk.. You DID lose your money."
That's perfect. In my world if you buy a good vintage or second hand outfit and take care of it? It's got resale value and that's more than you can say about most new stuff made today.
I love GOT it's the best series ever made. I never thought i would be into it the way I am. It's an incredible story that is basically how the world works. Everyone fights for power.
This post has nothing to do with religion, but I have to say, I can't help myself from saying, "amen". To every bit of this. My house is much the same, and I've found it to be liberating. No television and what that means most for me is no constant assault of advertising in my daily life. And I completely agree on finding more fulfilling replacements. No TV? That's fine. I'll replace it with books. No new random junk purchases or impulse buys? That's fine too. I'll replace it with buying tools for arts, crafts, and hobbies. Skills I can actually learn and add value to my life with. It's a wonderful way of thinking that I've found a lot of wisdom and value in.
Awsome write. I found minimalism very enjoyable. So true.
World has become so materialistic my friend!
I am not sure about depression being at all time high, I think we have better lives than never before.
About the consumption, there is certainly whole teams of people trying to understand what triggers the desire to buy, and use this knowledge to sell their products. I even wrote an article about that a few weeks ago.
Although consumption isn't necessarily bad, I mean, being able to consume things is what makes our lives good, the problem start when people consume just for the sake of consuming.
I work in an industry with a pretty high rate of hoarding. For lack of a better term. Full on hoarding would be accumulation without selling. Antique/vintage dealers buy in anticipation of selling but often find they are merchandise rich and cash poor. They see it like money in the bank.
The good news is at some point, at least this has resale and recycling value. The bad news is, accumulating can become an addiction whether it's new or old. Big corporations don't want to talk about resale either. The vintage industry is FULL of small businesses that can't afford to push their message. There are no marketing teams.
I myself have gone through about every phase of it. I'm at the buy less sell more part of my life and retail is gross.
Melissa
They tell us happiness"must" be purchased.
Kudos on your choice regarding television.
After 5th grade we did not have TV for 2 years. I actually started reading. It's still paying off.