Ask HN: Why are we consuming thing we don’t need? Hey,
In the last weeks, I often ask my self, why we buy things we don’t need. Sure, status symbols. But why dose we need a new iPhone, when we just use it for Twitter? Why do we need more then one car per Person? Why do we need this fancy gaming PC with 128GB of RAM, when we only utilize 15% of it? Has anybody asking such things them self? And do anyone has tips to stop buying useless things? Max |
If we stopped caring so much about grades, the education system wouldn't work as planned. If we didn't care about salary, the workforce system wouldn't work.
Past a certain point, food and housing is not that big an influence on workforce. Hence status symbols.
Another aspect: animals crave both status and territory. As time goes on, we start to own less and less 'territory' (smaller houses, less transportation, less long term jobs, even our movies and music aren't our own). So we make up for it by trying to own more things, or trying to project our status with status symbols.
Consumer tech is designed to be addictive, and it's marketing aimed at unconscious insecurities.
Realizing that, and exerting self control can be tricky, especially for people with plenty of disposable income.
Tips:
1. Acknowledge the addiction - first step to recovery
2. Research best practices to overcome the addiction. Just like any other, quitting cold turkey is probably impractical. Set achievable, meaningful goals and knock them off one by one
3. Get busy - find something that is meaningfully uplifting and immerse yourself in it - the busier you are, the less likely you're drawn to (old) addictions. Translation: replace bad addictions with good ones
When scanning google news, I skip the entertainment and sports sections, because I have no interest (and they're really just advertising). I also skip the "tech" "news" section, because it's just another entertainment section.
Manufactured insecurities mutually-reinforced by peer pressure ("Keeping up with the Jones") is often why. Don't do what you don't want to do; don't be pressured into lemmingification. Everyone else can buy absurdly-overpriced conveniences like tiny bottles of water in disposable plastics. Pack your own lunch, take up freeganing and stay away from "luxuries" like recent MacBook Pro's that are overpriced and designed for unrepairability. Opt-out of the new widget competitive upgrading bandwagon and only acquire just what you need, just when you need it and not before. Also, share services that rent things that bleed you but convey no ownership.
Dave Ramsey has a podcast and many books, and while he mostly talks about getting out of debt, he’s really talking about controlling your money.
Look up asceticism. I don’t think it’s the answer but it has a lot of helpful things to say, particularly imo Christian asceticism. Stoicism might be similarly helpful: not the answer but says some helpful things.
I wholeheartedly agree with the others who say to limit your exposure to advertising. Over 10 years ago I drastically reduced my TV watching and that alone has helped tremendously.
Spend time with people who have very little, such as people who are homeless. It helped me to gain a different perspective.
I came to a point in my life pretty early where I realized that I don't need much. Also, I don't really give a shit about proxies for status, and that the people who do care about those proxies rarely are people that I want in my life in any significant fashion.
In a way, I've self-selected a social circle that doesn't pressure me into adopting principles and behaviors surrounding consumption that I don't agree with.
Not just marketing and sales. Coders working on analytics platforms used by marketing for example are part of the team. Reflect on what tasks got priority at your work today. And if you are not helping to increase consumption maybe you are helping your customers customers to do this instead.
Companies that can grow get all the rewards. Their shareholders get rich. People want to be rich because that’s the dream they are sold. It’s a cycle.
You might find researching effective charities that you are passionate about to be an interesting endeavor which might satisfy the "shopping" itch if that's part of what motivates you to buy things you don't need.
And if status symbols is your game, going to charity gala events and showing off your donations on social media can take the place of instagramming your new car or gadget.
How to stop buying useless things: stop buying useless things.
If that's hard, reduce or eliminate your exposure to advertisements. Eliminate broadcast and cable TV, install an adblocker in your browser.
We need very little ; food is cheap, air and water are generally free, shelter is not strictly necessary. I choose to spend money on things I don’t need, such as a warm and comfortable indoor place to sleep, because they bring me more pleasure than the extra dollars in my bank balance might.
“Need” is a pretty high bar to clear, I don’t think that should be your standard for what you buy. I think what you’re asking is something more like “why do people buy things which fail to give them enough benefit to justify their purchase”, which is a good question, but perhaps can only be answered by the individual concerned, through introspection.
Sometimes I worry I’m the opposite — that instead of spending too much money on things that don’t give me benefit I’m being too cheap, and failing to buy things that actually would be worthwhile. On the other hand I’m sure I make errors on both sides.