#overconsumerism

linux desktop numbers hitting unprecedented percentages (4%, but still a HUGE deal), vintage digicams making cultural waves, a renewed mainstream focus on indie games as people find their niches, just regular ass people buying 3d printers, younger people making noise about encroaching AI and oversaturation of soul-sucking, overly-monetized media.

hell, i've even seen teenagers playing around with blender commenting on blender tutorial shorts on youtube.

it feels like everyone's finally breaking under the pressure of our current political and technological hellscape, and it's hitting everyone to a degree that everyone's synthesizing into a new creative-oriented metaculture.

some images are not neutral, nor are they accidents. they're designed to provoke a reaction--shock, jealously, disgust, even defensiveness--because emotion drives engagement, and engagement drives profit.

when you see a room full of makeup, a 30-step skincare routine, a even just a "quick haul", the goal isn't to inform you, but to make you feel something. that feeling is usually insecurity or outrage, mainly because both keep you scrolling.

some people feel inferior and ask "why don't i have this? am i behind?" others feel morally superior and declare "this is disgusting. people are so wasteful." both reactions still boost the post. both still feed to algorithm. the key point is that neither reaction threatens the system that produced the image in the first place.

that's usually why context is always missing. you never really hear whether products were gifted, returned, written off, expired, unused, etc. or whether the person is a professional, sponsored, or staging excess for attention. ambiguity is the point; confusion keeps you arguing in the comments instead of questioning why your questioning in the first place.

and i understand! professionals may need an excess of items to get their jobs done, but the system doesn't target professionals. it targets everyday people like you and me.

late stage capitalism doesn't need you to want these things, but it just needs you to be emotionally activated by them. outrage is just as profitable as aspiration.

so when people say "this is just meant to make you upset," they're right. But not in the way that they think. The issue isn't that you felt something, but more so that you're trained to emotionally respond to excess instead of critically interrogating it.

for example, if pointing out that junk journals should be made of actual junk and useless things found in one's home makes me a bitch, so be it.

buying 300 dollars' worth of supplies to decorate a journal is peak CONSUMERISM, and none can change my mind.

i have been making "journals", "scrapbooks", and "art books"—everything trending under the sun—since i was, like, 7, all for fun with whatever i had in my home. the whole point of any kind of journaling is to make do with your existing resources. hobbies are not meant to dent your purse and make holes in your pockets.

as a kid i had the tendency to decorate my stuff with puffy stickers, glitter pens, newspaper cuttings, magazine glossy papers, and every time i wanted something trendy from stationery shops because they were the new shiny thing my friends had, my mom would remind me that: 'you are creating things to express your interests in certain topic and not making a showpiece for others to be impressed about.'

journaling is first an expression of the personal and then a peephole exhibition to the public. you create for yourself and then show it to the world to show your joy not create for random people first and yourself later. journaling trends, stationery hauls and journal supply unboxing videos has sent me into a state of alarm.

buying 300 dollar washi tapes, 100 dollars' worth of printed colourful papers, another 50 dollar stamps, using golden brass scissors, visiting super expensive restaurants to collect their napkins and bills, and layering on another 250 dollar journal is simply falling into a consumerist trap. you cannot take your disposable income for granted! the economy is crashing, and copying art influencers will put you in debt.

you don't have to journal every day, either! our ordinary lives don't need daily microscopic dissection and diagnosis written and covered in pretty stickers and glitter. yes, everyday life needs to be appreciated, the never-ending thought trails need to be put together, and we need to be in connection with our emotions, and journaling is a meditative method to achieve it all.

but we should remember this: that mediation should be free of materialistic chokehold.

also, i have vented about it before as well, but every day social media gives me new reason to get angry

god i am irritated…

and I found a video to match my anger!