I received a catalog in the mail yesterday, and on the front was the caption "happiness delivered." That really bothered me and caused me to think about the American consumerist society. Why do we think that having more stuff will make us happy? Sure, if you don't have the essentials that you need then getting those essentials will make someone happier. But once you have what you really need does having more make you happier? I guess that I have thought about this over the last year or two as I've read some on recent studies and books about happiness. Happiness doesn't come from material possessions, at least not lasting happiness. But especially at the holidays there is this expectation to buy for friends and family to show that we love them. My mother seems to believe this. She got tired of having me return most of what she bought for me when I was a teen, so one year she asked me to give her a list of things that I would like for the holidays. I did, and every year since she calls or emails in the fall and asks for my list. I'm 46, not a six year old with a list for Santa. I don't need more stuff!
I see this "more is better" mentality when I go to a shopping mall, which isn't often. I see store after store filled with stuff and I wonder if we need most of this, and does having it make people happier? Our former President encouraged Americans to go shopping at the beginning of the last minor recession about 10 years ago - he made it sound like our patriotic duty. That was great - rack up credit card debt to buy stuff you don't need. Even now the newspapers cheer on excessive spending at the holidays as a sign that consumer spending is up and therefore the economy is improving. Why not suggest that people cut back on spending and pay down debt?
After the holidays I plan to contact my family and suggest that we only buy gifts for the kids next year. I really don't need my family to buy me gifts to know that they love me.
Sorry for the rant. I just feel that our priorities about buying for others and accumulating more possessions is misplaced.
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I have a similar mentality on consumerism. Once you have what you need, you don't really need much else to make you happy. Though I do think the unnecessary things in life can add a little extra fun and are okay in moderation :)
ReplyDeleteMy siblings and I have actually been trying to convince our parents to do something new for Christmas. We're all getting old enough that none of us really need anything. We suggested that instead of spending lots of money on each other for gifts, we all pitch in and go on a family vacation somewhere and have fun together. My parents didn't go for it, but there's always next year lol
whoever dies with the most toys wins!
ReplyDelete~ cheers...
Consumerism is a pyramid scheme. And like any pyramid scheme it must be continually perpetuated otherwise it all comes crashing down.
ReplyDeleteIf Americans en-masse decided to reduce their spending on non-essential items by only 25%, the world economy would suffer dramatically. A lot of the stuff we buy is made in China so you'd think we'd just be putting many Chinese out of work. But the repercussions will affect everyone. China would suffer a huge recession, their inflated real estate market would crash, and they'd stop having all those extra billions of dollars to buy our debt. Other export economies would similarly suffer. With far less money available to buy our debt, interest rates would shoot up, causing a huge recession here. More lost jobs, less spending, etc. It's a vicious circle.
So...no, we don't need all this crap. No, we shouldn't be buying all this crap. And yes, ultimately, we'd be in much better shape if we had less stuff and less debt, but no one wants to suffer the very real pain of making that transition. Our consumerist economy is here to stay - until we are so overloaded with debt that no one will lend us any more money to buy their stuff.
Guess I went on a bit of rant there. Sorry!
Thanks for the comments guys. Robbie, I've done what you suggested with my sister, with the exception that we buy for each others children. But getting my mother to agree will be the hard part.
ReplyDeleteTwoLives, I hope that a change in the economy would happen more gradually.