A bit odd, considering my last post was about shopping, but I have noticed an increase in people saying they weren’t doing presents this year for Christmas. I wondered whether it was an increase in anti-consumerism, or a reaction of increased consumerism.
One of the reasons I have grown to dislike en masse present giving is that most of the recipients are adults. They have a salary, usually a decent one, and are perfectly capable of buying themselves whatever it is. In some cases what they want is highly specific and not cheap. When did christmas become wish fulfilment time? So for people who can (and do) buy what they need, it’s a time when they receive stuff they don’t want or need.
I get that for kids it is a time to get new toys, and usually they don’t have much agency to buy Stuff, but I also know that most kids I interact with have plenty of toys, most bought for no reason at all. So Christmas is not a day for a new toy, it’s a day for many new toys.
Experiences (which are the newish trend) are also a form of stuff. Certainly we buy stuff as a result. It’s just they feel less accumulative.
At what point do we say enough!? How much stuff do you need to be happy? And what sort of stuff? When are you content?
Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.