The Mindless Consumer

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We often tell our children not to give in to peer pressure. I’m sure you have heard the saying, “So if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?” This ancient proverb often is accompanied by a sarcastic look daring the child to answer yes. The funny thing is, as adults we unconsciously throw ourselves off this proverbial cliff to our financial death.

Okay, hear me out. Traditionally, we had specific holidays to celebrate what should be important to us; Mother’s Day, Christmas, New Year’s Day, etc. As if, prominent days like Valentine’s Day weren’t commercialized enough, now there’s a day for everything; Sibling Day, Best Friend Day, Boss’ Day, etc. Gratitude and appreciation are values that keep us pure and grounded as a species. It is good to give a rose to someone while they still have breath. But do we need a specific day to remind us? And even if we believe that we do, do we always have to spend money to show appreciation?

Producers have become extremely creative. It is their job to convince you that you are not good enough without whatever they want to sell to you. No longer are they coming door to door but instead, phone to phone. There are millions of advertisements that play on all of your insecurities; you’re not slim enough, your face is beginning to sag, and of course, you can become a billionaire if you click here.

One of the newest trends is Subscriptions. According to Forbes, the average household has 3.4 streaming subscriptions costing $8.53 each per month. Whether it be Netflix, Hulu, and now the latest Disney+, everyone wants to be in on the newest trend. Don’t forget to add in the NBA League Pass and ESPN+ if you have a sports fan at home. All adding up close to $500 a year. We haven’t even thought about the other subscriptions for music, fitness apps, magazines, and many more. It makes me wonder how many of these services we are using and how many we have swiping a monthly fee undetected with little to no usage. 

Our society has become one of Keeping Up With the Joneses. No longer do we compete for the neatest lawn but now who can get further in debt. Every year a new iPhone is released and almost hypnotized by its three cameras, that we may never understand how to use, we go out to upgrade. Trade-in and upgrade become our new norm. No longer do we nurture and maintain because we can always trade-in and upgrade. Not realizing there’s always a price tag attached such as paying monthly installments on a phone that some people would be paying on a car. 

We can’t afford to not have the latest Jordan, even while thousands of dollars in student debt. It speaks to a status that we want others to perceive that we have. God forbid someone asks us about the newest HBO series and we have to tell them we don’t have HBO GO. It is like being put under a hypnotic spell. A compulsion, where we see the big red letters of SALE and we leap right off the cliff reaching for something we don’t need. Then at the end of the year (or tax season), we look around surrounded by bills and wonder how we got here. Where did we go wrong? The spell is broken. Then as a new year’s resolution, we make a budget and swear to stick to it. If only we could find it by the second week in January. Then something new comes out and the hypnosis starts again.

It is the holiday season and let’s be honest, we are going to be spending. Nothing is wrong with buying gifts and having subscriptions. But before you buy, resist the urge and ask yourself, “Do I need this? Do I already have something that serves the same function? What is my motivation in buying this?” Asking yourself some of these questions will help break the spell and it might just save you a couple of hundred dollars this season. And if you’ve already hit rock bottom, you can ask yourself the same questions about things you already have. Maybe it may lead to only 1 streaming service instead of 4. Having nice things is great but not when you are living beyond your means. This season, spend consciously, not mindlessly. 

~Davrielle J. Valley, NCC, MS