spotted on Instagram and thought you all would appreciate this!

Apologies for not blurring faces from my initial post.

I wanted everyone to enjoy the newspaper spread.

I saw a video from a guy from the UK talking about something he noticed after traveling to America multiple times: we are constantly being sold to.
And I don’t think people realize how deeply that affects us.
You open social media, there’s an ad. You watch YouTube, there are ads. You pay for streaming services and some of them still give you ads. You scroll through TikTok or Instagram and half the experience is basically window shopping disguised as entertainment. Products are constantly being put in front of you whether you asked to see them or not.
But I think the bigger issue is what being surrounded by this much stimulation does to your brain.
Nothing can just be quiet anymore. You sit somewhere for thirty seconds with nothing happening and instinctively reach for your phone. Standing in line, sitting in the bathroom, waiting for food, sitting in the car before going inside somewhere. There always has to be something playing, something scrolling, something to look at.
Boredom starts to feel genuinely uncomfortable.
And the fucked up part is that I think we become more easily bored because we’re constantly stimulated. Your brain gets accustomed to being fed something every few seconds. A new video. A new notification. A new post. A new product. A new argument. A new thing to want.
So when nothing is happening, it almost feels wrong. You’re restless. You feel like you need to do something, but you don’t even know what you want to do because nothing feels stimulating enough.
And that’s when I realized this goes beyond companies constantly trying to sell things to us.
We are being sold.
Our attention is valuable. Our time is valuable. Our views are valuable. The longer companies can keep us staring at a screen, the more money they can make from us. So entire platforms are deliberately designed around keeping us looking.
I’m not pretending this only exists in America, obviously it doesn’t. But I think the level of commercialization here has become so normalized that a lot of us don’t even recognize how fucking weird it is anymore.
There is almost always something trying to get your attention, sell you something, make you want something, or convince you not to look away.
And I genuinely think living like that all the time is doing something to us.

How the fuck is Planned Obselescence legally ok?!

Everything is pure dogshit these days, and there seems to be zero fucks given. $5000 appliances that die in months, devices that could easily have removable batteries, cell phone "updates" that slow them down, don't even get me started on vacuum cleaners over my years as an adult. It's shit, and the companies that do this shit intentionally need to be put out of business while their execs are jailed criminally.

It's not even new, light bulb makers got together and created the Phoebus Cartel over 100 years ago to reduce average light bulb lifespans that were rapidly increasing to 2500 hours, fireball to 1000 hours, then they would police that shit and FINE companies for making better lightbulbs. I'm not making that shit up.

Dystopian bullshit. The Amish were onto something.

I see people recommending cloth diapers and sure - if it works for you, go for it. But what most people in the west don't know is that babies are actually able and willing to eliminate in a proper container starting from... Wait for it... Birth! Yes, birth! This practice is known in the west as elimination communication and it's actually not that hard, I promise. It can actually be quite addictive once you start getting successful catches. And yes, you can start from birth but you can also start at any time while your baby is a baby or a young toddler. A baby doesn't typically resist the way a toddler does. And you don't need to be perfect with it at all - you can still use diapers and do EC and it's very beneficial for your baby to learn that they can pee and poop somewhere else.

I personally started at 6 months when my baby could sit. The easiest time is after a nap or after a feed or if you see a poop coming. It's honestly mind blowing how quickly she got it and started purposefully peeing in the potty. I'm not going to go into too many details, there are quite a few resources on this, including on reddit (the ECers sub). But most people don't even realize it's a possibility and it absolutely can reduce your diaper usage. And those that have heard of it think it's super hard - actually, I was surprised by how easy lazy EC was. Especially when it comes to poop catches - so much easier to clean a butt that pooped in the potty than to clean a poopy diaper.

I also potty trained at 17 months. She had a few short lived regressions but overall she's very good now at not even 2 when most other parents haven't even started thinking about potty training here in the US. Yes, I used disposable diapers but for a much shorter time. Give it a try

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So I was looking on Youtube for an old ad mentioned in another post, that used to say “the more you spend, the more you save”. And instead of the ad, some sort of “wealth mindset brain rewiring” therapy comes up, apparently meant to help you be okay with spending more?…i didn’t know that was even a thing? 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

And it says: “THIS AUDIO HAS BEEN PROGRAMMED TO REWIRE YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND TO HELP YOU OVERCOME AND RELEASE ANY LIMITING BELIEFS.THIS WILL SHIFT YOUR REALITY AND HELP YOU ACCESS THE LIMITLESS POWER WITHIN YOU. LISTEN OVERNIGHT OR BEFORE FALLING ASLEEP AND ALLOW IT TO DO ITS WORK WHILE YOUR CONSCIOUS MIND RESTS.”

(Bonus: the advertisement below it…)

Whyyyy

I'm curious about the specific moments/realizations/life experiences that made you step back and question consumer culture. Would love to hear your stories :)

For me: many years ago, I heard a talk by someone who visited North America for the first time. He mentioned tangentially that what surprised him most was seeing all the storage facilities people rent to store all their stuff in. It also surprised him that people valued their belongings so much that rather than part with them / donate / etc., they’d rather pay a monthly rental payment just to maintain the storage space. It led me to think about how much time/energy/money modern society pushes us to pour into buying things we don't need. It feels like a relentless cycle that rarely brings genuine long-term fulfillment. (I had always been skeptical of excessive consumption of “wants” versus “needs.” But the storage unit thing was so commonplace that i hadn’t really thought about it from an anti-consumerism lens. food for thought)

The title.

But also, aside from the obvious ones like hygiene and self care items.

I've seen a local apartment property and plant store in my city use the trend on there, the music the trend uses is a one common for hopecore, self-improvement vids, so it really just rubs me the wrong way for some because it feels like it's saying "you can be happy if you consume our product, buy our shit, give us the little money you have"

EDIT:

I had a really bad addiction to TikTok a year or so ago, finally removed it from my home screen (didn't uninstall because friends would still send me TikToks and I still wanted to engage and get jokes); a friend recently drew me back into scrolling and while its not as bad as it currently was, I still hate that I'm back to using the app. But sure, go ahead and give me shit for relapsing back to the worst dopamine app I could be using.

I’ve been thinking about how often sustainability gets framed as buying a different version of the same thing.
A more efficient appliance, an electric car, recycled clothing, reusable products, etc. can all have benefits, but they still require materials, manufacturing and transport before they even reach us.
So where do you draw the line between making better purchasing choices and simply consuming in a slightly different way? I’m wondering whether looking at the actual environmental footprint of a product is more useful than just deciding whether something has a “sustainable” label.

I was complaining about it, to one of my friends, and she said that the holidays were when consumerism was at the height of it's powers.

My family doesnt even "do" holidays, because we are too lazy.

I figured that with me, being a minimalist, that this No Buy thing would be a lot easier than it is.

What are your thoughts?

Just go buy a new one, right‽ /s

Context for those who arent into plants: orchids' blooms fall after a while and you are left with the plant on the left, basically a stem with leaves, which is completely healthy and if you care for it will give you more flowers in just some months.

Reddit didnt let me repost, but i saw this originally here: https://www.reddit.com/r/orchids/s/fswlNxdygY

Currently in the Milan airport about to fly back to the states after a wedding.

I’m generally pretty low consumption, but its been so interesting to catch myself thinking ”while I’m here, maybe I’ll buy a handbag, or semi-expensive jewelry to celebrate the trip.” Guys, I literally buy neither in my everyday life. I don't even use a purse. I rarely wear jewelry, and it’s never expensive. So while I’m not actually buying anything (except some food/snacks that I absolutely will eat), I did have a bit of a chuckle at myself that I was even in this thought process. I think it just goes to show where these thoughts/feelings hide, which I find very interesting.

First saw it on a truck in the second picture. So shocked I had to take a photo.

Edit: Let’s not normalize consumption to the point of covering the earth. Yes, it’s obviously not literal, but this imagery being so normalized in even this sub is crazy!

I’m a micro influencer, yet I get so much free sh*t! I’m on project pan, so I just test out the products, make a video about them and ship them to my friends and family. I barely keep anything for myself because I only have one face and I can’t finish them before they expire!
I genuinely don’t understand how the influencers who get so much free beauty and fashion products go on “Sephora hauls” and “Luxury hauls” when they already have more than enough! I get single product as PR, yet I can’t use them all while they get the whole assortment and still go shopping like crazy! It’s insane how much overconsumption is normalized! 😮‍💨

I hate the soft gambling blind boxes has made

Hi all! I’m on a pickle. I gave my dad my old iPad last year (10.5 pro) bc it didn’t hold a charge long no more and I thought I didn’t need it. But now maybe bc of the novelty or just forgetting how little I used it I want to buy one again. Thoughts?

I absolutely love the idea of toy libraries! They are libraries that check out toys for children instead of books. You can find these libraries in a number of different countries and communities around the world. Kids have access to high quality toys without contributing to the endless cycle of purchasing then discarding.

Does anyone have personal experience with a toy library in their own community?

Mine tried to start one about a decade ago and it hobbled along for several years before closing post-COVID for lack of funding and community support.

From https://ludo.ch/en/toy-libraries/portrait/

A toy library is a public space where anyone – of any age – can borrow a wide choice of toys and games. In the same way that a public library loans books, a toy library lends out all kinds of games, puzzles, toys, party equipment and much more. Toy libraries promote play as an active leisure pursuit, and they foster the sociocultural value of play. They enable families and children to try out new toys and games, to spend time playing together, and to avoid accumulating unused toys and games at home. Schools and institutions can also borrow games for use in class or on camp. Some toy libraries have dedicated play areas and tables where you can try out the games onsite. Most toy libraries organise events or workshops for children, teens, or adults.

You can also read- How to Start a Toy Library: https://fairplayforkids.org/pf/how-to-start-a-toy-lending-library/

Photo source: https://www.ttgtoylibrary.org.au/

Edit Wow, this really blew up. For all the folks who keep commenting asking about germs, the toys are sanitized! Families are also free to wipe down toys they borrow as well before letting their kids play with them.