Affluenza by Blinkist is a book about understanding the consequences of consumerist culture and living with more intention and contentment.
Key learnings:
- How consumerism has led to a society where more purchases won’t necessarily lead to more satisfaction
- Ways you can break free from the societal pressures to acquire
- Strategies for finding contentment with what you currently have
As a UX designer, this book is an essential read because it discusses how to differentiate between needs and wants. Since UX design is in many cases geared towards fulfilling consumer desires, understanding the nuanced psychological triggers in consumer behavior will improve skills when creating functional products.
Other similar books that may be interesting to read include:
- The Art of Consumption: Design and the Servicescapes of 21st Century Retail Experience by Milena Droumeva
- Shopping, Seduction & Mr. Selfridge: A History of the Department Store by Lindy Woodhead
- The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz
🎀 Highlights
Do you find you prefer to spend your free time just flopping down on the sofa? You aren’t alone if you answered yes to that last question – most people would prefer to flop. Because we spend most of our time working to raise money to buy things, we scarcely have time left for our family, friends and communities.
Even our time with our children is often not spent well. Most often, we’re simply driving our kids from one class or activity to the next. In fact, the number of hours families spend together on holidays or at meal times has declined by one third since the 1930s.
Most of our precious time away from work and children is spent wearily watching
Most of our precious time away from work and children is spent wearily watching TV.
This process of social withdrawal is called cocooning.
cocooning is prevalent and people often lack the time to form meaningful relationships. We end up trying to buy our social lives.
one compulsive American buyer who spoke to the authors bought several expensive TVs and stereos in the hope of feeling less lonely. He knew his neighbors would regard him as an expert in electronics and come to him when they needed advice.
addiction to work and shopping leads to a vicious cycle. We
Our addiction to work and shopping leads to a vicious cycle. We buy more stuff to fix the problems caused by our desires to buy stuff in the first place.
connections to other people and nature.
The social cost of affluenza is massive, but something else is being destroyed at an even greater rate: the environment.
we’ve mined most of the world’s easily accessible resources. This means we have to turn to more dangerous and complicated mining procedures.
This has dire consequences for nature. In fact, we might currently be on the verge of the most high-impact species extinction since the dinosaurs: Coral reefs are dying off at alarmingly rapid rates.
This has dire consequences for nature. In fact, we might currently be on the verge of the most high-impact species extinction since the dinosaurs: Coral reefs are dying off at alarmingly rapid rates. Huge chunks of reef in the Americas have died off in this decade, due to environmental changes like rising ocean temperatures and increased pollution.
“Of the 84,000 chemicals in common commercial use, only about 1,500 to 2,000 have been tested for carcinogenicity.”
One manufacturing area of Louisiana, for example, has been nicknamed “Cancer Alley” because there are so many carcinogens in the air and water. Not surprisingly, the area is mostly inhabited by the poor.
American standards of consumption, however unrealistic they might be. This
One of Manila’s most luxurious shopping malls sits next to an enormous garbage dump called “Smokey Mountain” where thousands of people live.
Of the 22 leading industrial nations in the world, the United States is ranked last in income equality. Countries with high income inequality have lower standards in health and greater crime rates across all classes.
Affluenza is not a part of human nature.
In the Stone Age, humans spent about three to eight hours a day “working.” Even today in remote tribes, people follow similar patterns.
a UCLA anthropologist, lived with the Machiguenga tribe in the Amazon rain forest for two years and observed this. He described the Machiguenga as “people who always have enough time. They’re never in a hurry.”
Machiguenga know that as long as they can survive, they can spend time enjoying their life.
Time spent socializing or making crafts brings much greater happiness than overconsumption.
Aristotle, for instance, denounced people “who have managed to acquire more external goods than they can possibly use, and are lacking in the goods of the soul.”
Many religions also encourage their followers to stay away from overconsumption. In the Garden of Eden, for example, Adam and Eve had everything but still wanted more. Their greed led to the fall of mankind.
Jesus himself was one of the strongest opponents of affluence. He encouraged his followers to let go of all their possessions.
Seneca once said, “A thatched roof once covered free men; under marble and gold dwells slavery.”
Gillette's disposable razors are an example of this. Planned obsolescence means that customers are forced to continuously buy a new version of the same product.
General Motors. After the Great Depression, they began introducing a new model every year to boost the demand for cars.
Countless popular TV shows, like Desperate Housewives or CSI, are set in wealthy neighborhoods.
Countless popular TV shows, like Desperate Housewives or CSI, are set in wealthy neighborhoods. Viewers see these affluent areas, and internalize them as the standard they want to reach.
You might see a math problem for children that reads, “If Joe has 30 Oreo™ cookies and eats 15, how many does he have left?” Naturally, it will be next to an enticing photo of
You might see a math problem for children that reads, “If Joe has 30 Oreo™ cookies and eats 15, how many does he have left?” Naturally, it will be next to an enticing photo of Oreos.
In fact, the average American can identify fewer than ten types of plants, but hundreds of corporate logos.
Adverts are highly effective, and their ubiquity deeply impacts our lives. In fact, the average American can identify fewer than ten types of plants, but hundreds of corporate logos.
“The American Council on Science and Health” may sound like a respectable organization, but it was actually created by fast food companies and petrochemical firms to defend their products against criticism.
two-thirds of Americans still believe that global warming is controversial within the scientific community, when in fact it’s widely acknowledged.
One former stockbroker, Joe Dominguez, for example, remarked that his rich colleagues on Wall Street were just as unhappy as people in the ghetto where he grew up. Clearly, happiness must be determined by something other than money.
Some young professionals in Seattle have found an interesting way to break away from cocooning. They move into tiny apartments called “apodments” which are only four by four by ten square metres. Having a tiny apartment means you have to spend more time outside, in nature or with friends.
We also need support from others to cure our affluenza, just as an alcoholic needs support to stay sober.
Cecile Andrews’s book The Circle of Simplicity offers good advice on this.
study circles where members help each other live well on a lower income. She’s started hundreds herself, and thousands of people have benefited from this.
Every street, every TV and every newspaper we see compels us to buy more and more things we don’t truly need.
we need to use the virus itself to generate the resistance.
Anti-ads have thus far been a good implementation of this idea. They seem authentic at first, until viewers realize that they’re seeing the exact opposite of an advert.
Many schools nowadays teach children to analyze the media and question the advertisements they see. This is called “media literacy” and in our digital age of growing affluenza, it might be just as important as literacy itself.
good documentary for increasing your media literacy is The Story of Stuff, directed by a former Greenpeace activist.
The Story of Stuff one of the most important tools for immunizing against affluenza. So if you’re interested in learning more after these blinks, why not look it up? We need to educate ourselves about our affliction if we want to rid ourselves of it.
“The average American will spend nearly two years of his or her lifetime watching TV commercials.”
In the Post-Industrial age, our society has become afflicted with a serious disease: affluenza. We’re obsessed with consuming, and it’s ruining our lives and planet. We urgently need to cure ourselves if we want true happiness, and want to save our home.
We’re stuck in a rat race where we chase money all our lives – try to resist it. Don’t expect that more money will mean more happiness.
We’re stuck in a rat race where we chase money all our lives – try to resist it. Don’t expect that more money will mean more happiness. It won’t, and in fact, you’ll be happier if you buy less stuff.
Make more out of your money, not more money.
We’re stuck in a rat race where we chase money all our lives – try to resist it. Don’t expect that more money will mean more happiness. It won’t, and in fact, you’ll be happier if you buy less stuff. Suggested further reading:
Suggested further reading: Manufacturing Consent by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky
Do you find you prefer to spend your free time just flopping down on the sofa? You aren’t alone if you answered yes to that last question – most people would prefer to flop. Because we spend most of our time working to raise money to buy things, we scarcely have time left for our family, friends and communities.
Even our time with our children is often not spent well. Most often, we’re simply driving our kids from one class or activity to the next. In fact, the number of hours families spend together on holidays or at meal times has declined by one third since the 1930s.
Most of our precious time away from work and children is spent wearily watching
Most of our precious time away from work and children is spent wearily watching TV.
This process of social withdrawal is called cocooning.
cocooning is prevalent and people often lack the time to form meaningful relationships. We end up trying to buy our social lives.
one compulsive American buyer who spoke to the authors bought several expensive TVs and stereos in the hope of feeling less lonely. He knew his neighbors would regard him as an expert in electronics and come to him when they needed advice.
addiction to work and shopping leads to a vicious cycle. We
Our addiction to work and shopping leads to a vicious cycle. We buy more stuff to fix the problems caused by our desires to buy stuff in the first place.
connections to other people and nature.
The social cost of affluenza is massive, but something else is being destroyed at an even greater rate: the environment.
we’ve mined most of the world’s easily accessible resources. This means we have to turn to more dangerous and complicated mining procedures.
This has dire consequences for nature. In fact, we might currently be on the verge of the most high-impact species extinction since the dinosaurs: Coral reefs are dying off at alarmingly rapid rates.
This has dire consequences for nature. In fact, we might currently be on the verge of the most high-impact species extinction since the dinosaurs: Coral reefs are dying off at alarmingly rapid rates. Huge chunks of reef in the Americas have died off in this decade, due to environmental changes like rising ocean temperatures and increased pollution.
“Of the 84,000 chemicals in common commercial use, only about 1,500 to 2,000 have been tested for carcinogenicity.”
One manufacturing area of Louisiana, for example, has been nicknamed “Cancer Alley” because there are so many carcinogens in the air and water. Not surprisingly, the area is mostly inhabited by the poor.
American standards of consumption, however unrealistic they might be. This
One of Manila’s most luxurious shopping malls sits next to an enormous garbage dump called “Smokey Mountain” where thousands of people live.
Of the 22 leading industrial nations in the world, the United States is ranked last in income equality. Countries with high income inequality have lower standards in health and greater crime rates across all classes.
Affluenza is not a part of human nature.
In the Stone Age, humans spent about three to eight hours a day “working.” Even today in remote tribes, people follow similar patterns.
a UCLA anthropologist, lived with the Machiguenga tribe in the Amazon rain forest for two years and observed this. He described the Machiguenga as “people who always have enough time. They’re never in a hurry.”
Machiguenga know that as long as they can survive, they can spend time enjoying their life.
Time spent socializing or making crafts brings much greater happiness than overconsumption.
Aristotle, for instance, denounced people “who have managed to acquire more external goods than they can possibly use, and are lacking in the goods of the soul.”
Many religions also encourage their followers to stay away from overconsumption. In the Garden of Eden, for example, Adam and Eve had everything but still wanted more. Their greed led to the fall of mankind.
Jesus himself was one of the strongest opponents of affluence. He encouraged his followers to let go of all their possessions.
Seneca once said, “A thatched roof once covered free men; under marble and gold dwells slavery.”
Gillette's disposable razors are an example of this. Planned obsolescence means that customers are forced to continuously buy a new version of the same product.
General Motors. After the Great Depression, they began introducing a new model every year to boost the demand for cars.
Countless popular TV shows, like Desperate Housewives or CSI, are set in wealthy neighborhoods.
Countless popular TV shows, like Desperate Housewives or CSI, are set in wealthy neighborhoods. Viewers see these affluent areas, and internalize them as the standard they want to reach.
You might see a math problem for children that reads, “If Joe has 30 Oreo™ cookies and eats 15, how many does he have left?” Naturally, it will be next to an enticing photo of
You might see a math problem for children that reads, “If Joe has 30 Oreo™ cookies and eats 15, how many does he have left?” Naturally, it will be next to an enticing photo of Oreos.
In fact, the average American can identify fewer than ten types of plants, but hundreds of corporate logos.
Adverts are highly effective, and their ubiquity deeply impacts our lives. In fact, the average American can identify fewer than ten types of plants, but hundreds of corporate logos.
“The American Council on Science and Health” may sound like a respectable organization, but it was actually created by fast food companies and petrochemical firms to defend their products against criticism.
two-thirds of Americans still believe that global warming is controversial within the scientific community, when in fact it’s widely acknowledged.
One former stockbroker, Joe Dominguez, for example, remarked that his rich colleagues on Wall Street were just as unhappy as people in the ghetto where he grew up. Clearly, happiness must be determined by something other than money.
Some young professionals in Seattle have found an interesting way to break away from cocooning. They move into tiny apartments called “apodments” which are only four by four by ten square metres. Having a tiny apartment means you have to spend more time outside, in nature or with friends.
We also need support from others to cure our affluenza, just as an alcoholic needs support to stay sober.
Cecile Andrews’s book The Circle of Simplicity offers good advice on this.
study circles where members help each other live well on a lower income. She’s started hundreds herself, and thousands of people have benefited from this.
Every street, every TV and every newspaper we see compels us to buy more and more things we don’t truly need.
we need to use the virus itself to generate the resistance.
Anti-ads have thus far been a good implementation of this idea. They seem authentic at first, until viewers realize that they’re seeing the exact opposite of an advert.
Many schools nowadays teach children to analyze the media and question the advertisements they see. This is called “media literacy” and in our digital age of growing affluenza, it might be just as important as literacy itself.
good documentary for increasing your media literacy is The Story of Stuff, directed by a former Greenpeace activist.
The Story of Stuff one of the most important tools for immunizing against affluenza. So if you’re interested in learning more after these blinks, why not look it up? We need to educate ourselves about our affliction if we want to rid ourselves of it.
“The average American will spend nearly two years of his or her lifetime watching TV commercials.”
In the Post-Industrial age, our society has become afflicted with a serious disease: affluenza. We’re obsessed with consuming, and it’s ruining our lives and planet. We urgently need to cure ourselves if we want true happiness, and want to save our home.
We’re stuck in a rat race where we chase money all our lives – try to resist it. Don’t expect that more money will mean more happiness.
We’re stuck in a rat race where we chase money all our lives – try to resist it. Don’t expect that more money will mean more happiness. It won’t, and in fact, you’ll be happier if you buy less stuff.
Make more out of your money, not more money.
We’re stuck in a rat race where we chase money all our lives – try to resist it. Don’t expect that more money will mean more happiness. It won’t, and in fact, you’ll be happier if you buy less stuff. Suggested further reading:
Suggested further reading: Manufacturing Consent by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky
