Excessive Consumerism Is Keeping You Poor | Overconsumption

having worked in the financial industry for over 5 years and naturally just being a more frugal person I fundamentally believe that overc consumption is absolutely plaguing modern society I recently stumbled across this video and actually had a profound realization and a new way in which we can face this issue well it looks like a SC from Black Friday shopping about a decade ago a Target shoppers fighting to get their hands on the limited edition Valentine's Day stanle cup stores nationwide since their initial launch on December 31st do they do anything special They light up what do they do it's a coffee holder they look cute I had no idea the magnitude of what was happening with the Stanley Cup but it's had a profound realization for me as I'm really understanding that a large portion of overc consumption is as a dire need for a representation of our identity I believe that with the example of the Stanley Cup it allows us to have a visual representation of a mood that we're having of an identity that we want to be a part of we get to feel like we're a part of a community and we get dopamine hits every time we get a new color we're able to show it to people we're able to talk about it we're able to feel like we are a part of something and so we don't know how to stop it's just like when we pursue getting a a nice car that we don't necessarily want want but we want to show people that we can have the car or that we're a person that drives a nice car but the thing with these big purchases is you can typically only do it once or twice when you have an item like a $45 Stanley Cup well it's within the limits of being able to just continuously do it this isn't the first time that something like this has happened this has happened many times through some of the most crazy things one of them being the pineapple the pineapple was first introduced in Britain in 1668 when Charles II gave it as a peace offering to the ambassador of France over some territory conflict a pineapple began to be such a representation of luxury that to be able to buy a pineapple it would be worth $8,000 today now people didn't actually eat the pineapple what they would do is they would put it on their table to show the other people that they could afford one so businesses began to use this as an opportunity they began to rent out pineapples so people didn't have to buy one if they couldn't afford one but they could still represent themselves as someone that could afford a pineapple shortly after that people began to actually curate statues of pineapples outside of their house as a representation of wealth shortly after that people were able to figure out or the French were able to develop the greenhouse mass-produced pineapples and it all went to Just What We Know It of as today sneaky little signs oh brother this guy stinks with that being said this is no different than the Stanley Cup craze or any of these different things we desperately desire to have some sort of representation to show the opposing person who we are and I believe that this is a fundamental issue because we use this as an excuse an out a way to not not prioritize discovering what it is within ourselves why do I need to actually Soul search discover who I am find the right person share who I am as we come together when I can buy a pineapple and let it do the talking why would I want to actually have a conversation with someone that might be awkward that we might not like each other when I can be drinking out of a Stanley Cup and they also drink out of a Stanley Cup so now we're a part of the same community I believe in certain ways this is the massive issue with modern society we are so intertwined with our identity and the way in which we represent our identity and the lengths in which we will go to protect our identity I think in reality identity isn't even real and many of us as you begin to shift throughout life begin to be very fluid I have certain beliefs I have certain things that I feel pretty confident about but if you were to come to me and give me your honest opinion some facts behind it whatever you believe I have no problem changing my mind I'm not my beliefs on certain things I'm not my identity I am not the physical items that I buy I am not all of these certain things that Society wants us to Dune movie 2 or little saber-tooth tiger little thing up there and show everybody this is who I am I believe that as we begin to see in a couple months from now all of these people that have every single color of a Stanley Cup and it no longer means anything and it ends up just getting thrown in the dump where you find out that a metal water bottle actually takes eight times the amount of uh natural resources that a plastic water bottle takes which is ridiculous that buying these things is not only hurting financially hurting the world but you still are left feeling without what it is that you're searching for I think that then the issue is is well how do I find that first you have to address it I think that's the fundamental most important thing is to realize I am searching for something outside of myself because I don't have what it is that I want within then I think that you need to write down some of the core things that are important to you and slowly begin to build off that to begin to find what you don't like test yourself find what you do like work it around that's a part of life I think the difficulty in figuring out kind of who you are is what makes life so beautiful because it sucks it is painful and it is freaking beautiful and it's amazing and there's joy and there's so much that the dopamine hit of a Stanley Cup just doesn't get the fast fashion of buying some article of clothing that's just going to evaporate in the washing machine in three washes just leads to another item being thrown away another way that we're not cherishing the Earth another way that our dollar is just getting thrown away and we have to work a job that we don't like over consumption a FS Us in so many different ways and it affects every single one of us I fundamentally believe What's called the market is always right it's kind of like the customer is always right if we stop buying certain cheap items and cheap can still be an expensive item but we're buying it in a cheap way because we're avoiding what it is that we're looking within well then the companies are going to continuously produce that if we continuous ly are upset at them but still have 30 packages of Amazon packages arriving at our doorstep why would Amazon ever change why would these companies ever do anything different if we are in reinforcing their actions with money we can talk all day long but if we don't back it up with actions well we're just going to keep falling into the same trap we're just going to keep having pineapples and water bottles and I can't even think those little like fidget Spinners and I can't even think about other little things but what I found is that when I was going through severe anxiety I picked up a little hobby of collecting funkos so these are like little action figures or like little bobblehead Collectibles for a moment it provided a lot of value to me because it brought me back back to when like I was a little kid and I had action figures as the anxiety got worse I found myself buying more of these because I wanted that dopamine hit I actually had like this this little thing that I would share pictures with people I knew about the Funko that I was collecting and it was a cool thing but I was getting dopamine hits from them and I felt like I was a part of something when I had nothing as I began to kind of rebuild myself discovering who I am I still had enjoyment from the funkos there was intentionality but I completely stopped buying them because I didn't want that dopamine hit I didn't want I wanted to be a part of a community of people that appreciated me for me not because of something that I was providing something that I was showing them to be able to get that reinforcement the hey look at this new Funko I got and them saying Oh that's cool the Funko wasn't cool the way I was interpreting it was I am cool oh that's a great Funko I can't believe you able to get that I'm special I was able to get that I think that we live a lot in things that are outside ourselves whether that's our significant other our kids our job our financial items our beliefs a lot of these different things we want to kind of have it out there as we are like floating in space just kind of waiting for everything to just kind of happen and I will blow dart you if you ever say anything that's not in alignment with what it is that I am consuming consumption happens in a multitude of different directions overc consumption is beyond just the physical items I think we're over consuming hate I think we're over consuming a lot of these negative things that's creating a society that just feels like it's being stripped of all of its nutrients again there is no judge no judgment um my girlfriend has a Stanley Cup she's had it for I think a couple years now I don't really know she likes it I think it's a good cup but so there's nothing wrong with having it we can't tie our identity to a physical item CU we're just going to get hurt so I hope that this provided some sort of value it kind of gives a a new take on something that many of us are noticing but until seeing these videos I just didn't realize it I I hadn't been able to kind of form a new Direction on this so I hope it provided value thank you so much for watching and listening to me kind of philosophies about a pink Stanley Cup I hope you guys have have a wonderful day thank you so much bye-bye I don't need it I don't need it I don't need it I don't need it I need it

Channel: Damon Cassidy

Views: 24,012

Keywords: consumerism, what is consumerism, consumerism explained, stanley cup, consumerism minimalism, excessive conumerism, eco friendly, zero waste, fast fashion, simple living, impulse buying, saving money, sustainability, overconsumption, consumption, consumerism meaning, mass consumption, how to stop impulse buying, excessive spending, minimalism and saving money, minimalism, financial freedom, impulse buying consumer behaviour, impulse spending, stop impulse spending, minimalsim

Id: i8Z3xedbHxU

Length: 11min 44sec (704 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 13 2024