
Ask HN: Why are we consuming thing we don’t need? - zeug
Hey,
In the last weeks, I often ask my self, why we buy things we don’t need.<p>Sure, status symbols. But why dose we need a new iPhone, when we just use it for Twitter?
Why do we need more then one car per Person?
Why do we need this fancy gaming PC with 128GB of RAM, when we only utilize 15% of it?<p>Has anybody asking such things them self? And do anyone has tips to stop buying useless things?<p>Max
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mbrock
Silly thought experiment. You’re a Stone Age hunter. You use a slingshot.
Someone says they can make you one that shoots a little bit faster and weighs
a bit less and has a sweet mammoth bone inlay that will impress everyone.
You’ll have to pay a couple days of hunt. Would you do it? It’s a thing you
carry all the time and it’s a big part of your “equipmental nexus” and thus
your life and your real daily experience. Is it ridiculous to think of your
phone as similarly crucial? Maybe.

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muzani
It's a part of our socioeconomic system. Our economy is run on carrots and
sticks. The carrots have to look bigger and the sticks have to look bigger.

If we stopped caring so much about grades, the education system wouldn't work
as planned. If we didn't care about salary, the workforce system wouldn't
work.

Past a certain point, food and housing is not that big an influence on
workforce. Hence status symbols.

Another aspect: animals crave both status and territory. As time goes on, we
start to own less and less 'territory' (smaller houses, less transportation,
less long term jobs, even our movies and music aren't our own). So we make up
for it by trying to own more things, or trying to project our status with
status symbols.

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writepub
This is a much deeper question, and answer than appears at the surface.

Consumer tech is designed to be addictive, and it's marketing aimed at
unconscious insecurities.

Realizing that, and exerting self control can be tricky, especially for people
with plenty of disposable income.

Tips:

1\. Acknowledge the addiction - first step to recovery

2\. Research best practices to overcome the addiction. Just like any other,
quitting cold turkey is probably impractical. Set achievable, meaningful goals
and knock them off one by one

3\. Get busy - find something that is meaningfully uplifting and immerse
yourself in it - the busier you are, the less likely you're drawn to (old)
addictions. Translation: replace bad addictions with good ones

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a3n
> Consumer tech is designed to be addictive

When scanning google news, I skip the entertainment and sports sections,
because I have no interest (and they're really just advertising). I also skip
the "tech" "news" section, because it's just another entertainment section.

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dfeojm-zlib
My 2 cent manifesto:

Manufactured insecurities mutually-reinforced by peer pressure ("Keeping up
with the Jones") is often why. Don't do what you don't want to do; don't be
pressured into lemmingification. Everyone else can buy absurdly-overpriced
conveniences like tiny bottles of water in disposable plastics. Pack your own
lunch, take up freeganing and stay away from "luxuries" like _recent_ MacBook
Pro's that are overpriced and designed for unrepairability. Opt-out of the new
widget competitive upgrading bandwagon and only acquire just what you need,
just when you need it and not before. Also, share services that rent things
that bleed you but convey no ownership.

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auslegung
Some things to read:

Dave Ramsey has a podcast and many books, and while he mostly talks about
getting out of debt, he’s really talking about controlling your money.

Look up asceticism. I don’t think it’s the answer but it has a lot of helpful
things to say, particularly imo Christian asceticism. Stoicism might be
similarly helpful: not the answer but says some helpful things.

I wholeheartedly agree with the others who say to limit your exposure to
advertising. Over 10 years ago I drastically reduced my TV watching and that
alone has helped tremendously.

Spend time with people who have very little, such as people who are homeless.
It helped me to gain a different perspective.

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Dunedan
If you have spare money to buy new stuff, you have no pressing reason not to
do so. What helped me was to find another "higher" purpose for spare money
(e.g. pension savings, house down payment, a big vacation, ...), so I can
always ask myself: Is this iPhone really worth it or do I get more out of it
by dedicating it to the other purpose?

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simple_phrases
It's a choice, often an emotional one. One message our society sends is that
power, expression and escape can be achieved through buying things.

I came to a point in my life pretty early where I realized that I don't _need_
much. Also, I don't really give a shit about proxies for status, and that the
people who _do_ care about those proxies rarely are people that I want in my
life in any significant fashion.

In a way, I've self-selected a social circle that doesn't pressure me into
adopting principles and behaviors surrounding consumption that I don't agree
with.

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quickthrower2
I think it’s simple. There are millions of people who go to work at companies
whose job it is to figure out how to sell more of their stuff to you.

Not just marketing and sales. Coders working on analytics platforms used by
marketing for example are part of the team. Reflect on what tasks got priority
at your work today. And if you are not helping to increase consumption maybe
you are helping your customers customers to do this instead.

Companies that can grow get all the rewards. Their shareholders get rich.
People want to be rich because that’s the dream they are sold. It’s a cycle.

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lprubin
If you have excess income, consider committing to give X% of your
salary/income away to charity.

You might find researching effective charities that you are passionate about
to be an interesting endeavor which might satisfy the "shopping" itch if
that's part of what motivates you to buy things you don't need.

And if status symbols is your game, going to charity gala events and showing
off your donations on social media can take the place of instagramming your
new car or gadget.

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stockkid
Because we are constantly conditioned to consume. Advertisements are
everywhere. Popular culture always glorifies hyper consumption lifestyle.

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a3n
Why: endorphins.

How to stop buying useless things: stop buying useless things.

If that's hard, reduce or eliminate your exposure to advertisements. Eliminate
broadcast and cable TV, install an adblocker in your browser.

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sloaken
Try reading 'Predictably Irrational' by Dan Ariely. He explains a lot.

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shadowbanme
Who is this “we”? I consume things I don’t need because I like them; your own
decision making process may differ from mine though, so I wouldn’t like to
speak for anyone else.

We _need_ very little ; food is cheap, air and water are generally free,
shelter is not strictly necessary. I choose to spend money on things I don’t
need, such as a warm and comfortable indoor place to sleep, because they bring
me more pleasure than the extra dollars in my bank balance might.

“Need” is a pretty high bar to clear, I don’t think that should be your
standard for what you buy. I think what you’re asking is something more like
“why do people buy things which fail to give them enough benefit to justify
their purchase”, which is a good question, but perhaps can only be answered by
the individual concerned, through introspection.

Sometimes I worry I’m the opposite — that instead of spending too much money
on things that don’t give me benefit I’m being too cheap, and failing to buy
things that actually _would_ be worthwhile. On the other hand I’m sure I make
errors on both sides.

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ps101
Thank you, I really don't think that questions like "Why do we do X?" lead
anywhere, because they have the built-in assumption that everyone does X and
that everyone does it for the same reason.

