The Need to Stop Consuming

What is it to be human under modern capitalism? It seems that, increasingly, the answer to this question is that to be human is to consume. Why is this the case? Are there any alternatives?

Humanity is so much more than consumerism. Your life and who you are is worth more than all that you own, your taste in music, or what shows you like to watch. We can all more or less agree on this point. Almost none of us, however, actually abides by it in our day to day lives. For instance, when I was sitting down to write this post, my mind immediately started thinking about what music I should put on. It was almost a subconscious occurrence; I didn’t actively make an effort to decide whether or not I wanted to listen to music, my mind seemed to make up itself, completely outside of my influence. It is almost as if my “preset” is to consume. This is not a natural occurrence, and neither is it a random or isolated event. I would venture to guess that almost everyone has experience something similar. It may not have been the exact scenario I mentioned above, but I am certain that at some point, everyone has pulled out their phone to look at instagram or Facebook without thinking, mindlessly scrolled through the Netflix catalog, or looked at page after page of Amazon products without searching for anything in particular. This seems to be an almost universal human experience. How then, is it not natural? If everyone does it, it must be a part of human nature, right?

On the contrary, this is about as far from a natural human experience as one could imagine. It is not natural to fill every waking moment with an activity that puts money in the pocket of someone else. I don’t know about you, but I have found recently that I hardly ever experience boredom. Every idle moment is spent watching instagram reels or scrolling through Pinterest. This is not how it is meant to be. This is a phenomena that has been deliberately created toward the end of maximizing profit. If every second of every day is made up of some kind of consumption, then every waking moment is monetized and makes money for someone else. The result of all this is a society that feels disconnected, and the complete atomization of individuals. Actual, face to face human interaction is increasingly rare.

Every part of our lives is based in consumption, even the things that are most human. Think about it, I challenge anyone to name any common activity that is not monetized. Eating is monetized, corporations raise food prices year over year in order to extract the most profit from each individual. So is dating, every single person I know is on the dating apps, some even pay for subscriptions that promise more matches and better results. This is not some huge conspiracy theory, it is simply the only logical result of a society whose core principle is profit. It only makes sense that monied interests would try and find ways to make money off of more and more parts of the human experience. Thus, this cannot be some natural occurrence or part of human nature, it is purposely manufactured by those seeking to maximize profit.

So, what is the result of all this? Recently I read a Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism. He makes some fascinating points regarding the effects of late capitalism on individual mental health. Fisher posits that all that is left of the individual is the “consumer spectator” (Fisher, 2008), and that this is a direct result of “… shameless, direct, and brutal exploitation” (Fisher, 2008, as cited in Marx). Exploitation is the most accurate word that can be used to describe the phenomena of mass consumerism. This is not some passive activity, it is one where the very essence of your humanity is controlled and turned into what is most profitable. The result of all this is “… rising rates of mental distress [in places where] the neoliberal mode of capitalism practiced…” (Fisher, 2008). The cause of this is obvious: a disconnected, hyper individual culture that is entirely subsumed with the pursuit of profit via consumerism. The more time I spend on Instagram, the less time I spend interacting with the world and people around me. You are significantly less likely to have new ideas or creating anything worthwhile if you spend your days glued to a screen. Human nature is to create. People have literally been making things since the beginning of time, and the end of this age old tradition is creating a crisis throughout society. It’s time for us to put down the reels and go do something worthwhile.