By: Maren Nicolaysen(she/her), W*SS Community Engagement Intern
Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Small Business Saturday. Hallowed high holidays harkening the beginning of the winter holiday (shopping/buying) season.
For the past few years, I’ve been more inclined to celebrate Buy Nothing Day. And yes, this is legit – it’s nationally recognized on the day after Thanksgiving.
Now of course, I like Stuff as much as the next person. However, I don’t live for it—and I definitely won’t die for it. Yet, our consumerism becomes excessive when we constantly buy beyond our needs.
From normalizing a daily “little treat”—which certainly is important to mental health as we go through stressful seasons (Finals Week, I’m looking at you)—to Shein hauls, American consumer culture hurts our economy, environment, and wellbeing.
First, our consumer society is economically and environmentally unsustainable. We overuse the Earth’s natural resources by over 70 percent. If everyone in the world lived like the average American, we’d need 5.2 planets to support our consumption (The World Counts).
Second, our #SHEINhauls and other fast fashion sprees? We can get all this thanks to the employees (often women* and children) who work 75-hour shifts in a few factories whose use of oil products expel the same amount of CO2 as 180 coal-fired power plants, according to Synthetics Anonymous 2.0 and the U.K.’s Channel 4.
Finally, the more we buy into consumerism, the worse our wellbeing and mental health over our lifetime. "Compared with their grandparents, today's young adults have grown up with much more affluence, slightly less happiness and much greater risk of depression and assorted social pathology," notes Hope College psychologist Dr. David G. Myers.
But you’re not to blame, and neither am I.
American consumer culture is driven by corporations with decades of research on what makes U.S. consumers tick, as well as the inaction of elected officials at the state, local, and national levels (get out the vote!).
Further, gift giving as a love language is a beautiful thing, and one of the ways I myself express my gratitude for the people around me.
There’s a definite privilege in being able to not buy things for a day or two, as well. Maybe you’re food secure enough to have bought enough groceries for the rest of the week, you don’t need to travel for a few days, or you’ve already bought all your Christmas presents in October (me). However, this isn’t the case for many of our friends or our communities.
At the end of the day, buying Stuff for the sake of Stuff doesn’t feel good to me. If an empty space can’t be filled with the joy and positive energy of chatting with friends, cooking with family, reading fanfic by yourself, or watching a k-drama with your now-hooked siblings, it probably won’t be helped by something material to fill that void. Yet, there’s so much going on in the world at this moment, sometimes we can only start healing by coping however we can—including buying a lot of random Stuff that we may or may not need.
"Material things are neither bad nor good," comments Dr. James E. Burroughs of the University of Virginia. "It is the role and status they are accorded in one's life that can be problematic. The key is to find a balance: to appreciate what you have, but not at the expense of the things that really matter--your family, community and spirituality."
As we’ve now entered Peak Stuff Buying Szn (TM), think about treating yourself and others to experiences that make long-lasting memories or a positive impact in your community. Will I be able to tell you who bought me that sweater for my birthday three years ago? Nope. Donating time, materials, or money is always needed and cherished by your local nonprofits, though (Nonprofits in the Greater Lansing Area). And without a doubt, I’ll always remember the people who made the time to give me and themselves beautiful experiences out in the world.