{"id":1153,"date":"2017-05-09T20:40:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T04:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/master.k8s.p4.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/aboutus\/1153\/shopping-doesnt-make-us-happy\/"},"modified":"2019-11-19T21:12:40","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T05:12:40","slug":"shopping-doesnt-make-us-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/blog\/1153\/shopping-doesnt-make-us-happy\/","title":{"rendered":"Shopping doesn\u2019t make us happy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Do your clothes make you happy? Or, after the excitement of the shopping spree fades, does your new stuff tend to lose its in-store magic by the time it\u2019s reached your wardrobe?<\/p>\n

A\u00a0new survey<\/a>\u00a0of international buying habits has found that we buy far more than we need and use. Two thirds of Hong Kong residents admit they own more than they need. The same is true for 60% of Chinese and over half of German and Italian respondents. But the mindless overconsumption of fashion has become our cultural norm.<\/p>\n

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\n\"\"<\/a>Shopping in Hong Kong, 23 Nov, 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Online shopping fuels this overconsumption. It\u2019s easier than ever to buy new clothes by clicking through social media feeds whenever you see something you like. And it\u2019s a time consuming habit: the average Chinese consumer spends at least two hours online shopping every day.<\/p>\n

The reasons for this are emotional and social. For many, comfort buys occur when people need to channel their anxieties. Shopping is a way to kill time, relieve stress, and avoid boredom. But the cheap thrill of buying something new dies away pretty fast. Half of the people surveyed said that the immediate excitement of a shopping spree lasted less than a day.\u00a0After the binge comes the hangover.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When they\u2019re not shopping, around a third of the East Asian people surveyed admit feeling empty, bored or lost. What\u2019s more, around half feel guilty about their shopping habits, sometimes hiding their purchases from others for fear of negative reactions or accusations of wasting money.\u00a0Shopping does not make us happy.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>We already own too much and we know it.<\/p>\n

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So why do we shop? We are searching for excitement, looking to increase our self-worth, confidence and recognition. The American media activist and advertising critic, Jean Kilbourne,\u00a0has commented<\/a>\u00a0about how deeply advertisers insinuate themselves by exploiting basic human desires like friendship, happiness and success in advertising for profit.<\/p>\n

The result is \u201cStuffocation<\/a>,\u201d a term coined by British cultural forecaster James Wallman. It describes a state where people\u2019s lives are trapped in a vicious cycle of working and accumulating products in order to keep up with the pace of consumerism. This fuels the anxiety of modern life; destroying the planet while keeping us from leading more imaginative, fulfilling lives.\u00a0Materialism is eating us inside out. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n