Psychologist Andrey Metelsky: Turned into zombie consumers and very happy with it Bashny.Net

Andrey Metelsky — a pediatrician and adolescent psychotherapist, Gestalt trainer, certified trainer of the center of INTC. General psychotherapy practice for 20 years.

 

Christmas holidays ended and many of us with sincere astonishment I was left with empty pockets. Why did this happen? It seems to be a few months began to save money for the holidays, was a decent "safety cushion", which in Ferial time, it could stretch a couple more months... You can relax: there is nothing surprising, shocking, unusually, unusually large has not happened. You just limp a Shopaholic, just like 95% of the population.





By itself, the term "Shopaholic" is starting to fade away because of the immense, reckless, chaotic consumption, which he outlines, is becoming the norm, like many other disturbing things. You can quite clearly recall that twenty years ago the person who carried out the stores hours, aimlessly running around the trading halls, became the subject of ridicule. It was considered unhealthy, unable to live a normal, filled with real life events. Similarly, could not command respect, "experts", a haunting vtyuhivayut you the most disgusting ways a particular product.

Today in shopping centers go to rest. Not in theater, not in the Park, not the movie! People without noticing it, purposefully go to the store for bread, and depart from the ticket office with packages, clogged with unnecessary rubbish. And very often, if you will ask them about the motives for these purchases, they will not be able to explain clearly, moreover, many even don't remember how made the decision to put a particular product in the basket.

We laugh at stupid ads on TV, on billboards and on the Internet, we think that it was designed for simpletons, but do not notice that they themselves become its victims every day. People who develop complicated schemes "vtyuhivaniya", now highly paid and respected professionals. Society quietly but surely, losing ground and gives more room for shameless manipulation. We are no longer outraged that the most important things written in a small font at the end of the contract or in the label on the product. We are happy to participate in promotions and sales, without even thinking, what constitutes "preferential" rates and how they differ from those that were before.

And if a couple of years ago to beautiful "breed" of buyer for the sale, had to show ingenuity and imagination, it is now our level of tolerance for violence against his own will power has grown so much that the arrogance of sellers is striking. You and your child can sign for erotic newsletter, notifying via SMS. To get rid of this stuff, you can probably only spending my time and going with the passport office phone provider. And it suits all!

Did anyone wonder why grown ten times the number of stores (in the total amount of retail space, I think, hundreds of times!) we continue to whine that the places to shop a little? We have become a hundred times richer? We have significantly increased the stomach? Our need for comfort has undergone amazing changes? Of course not. We just skillfully manipulated.We purposefully infect Bacillus "Shopaholic". But after all if to understand, it is the same dependence as drug addiction, gambling and other "mania" and "golija". There is only one difference: this socially acceptable addiction, which is supported by society as a whole.

Especially vulnerable our mind has become after the majority of the money has ceased to be palpable and turned into a set of ones and zeroes in Bank accounts. Person difficult to realize the material value of digits, wandering from one virtual wallet to another. Cash "melted in his hands." Going to the store for bread, we took the iron or paper ruble, because they understood that most of us do not. Now suddenly "merge" all that is on the card, but still fit into the overdraft. After taking "quick credit only on the passport" make installments on the phone, take the car to the lease... We want to quickly translate the numbers in the accounts to something material, because only in this case we get a conscious acknowledgement that we have earned.

There will be much more! Amazon has announced the opening of a grocery store with no queues, cashiers and money. Comfortable? No doubt. But how many are prepared for what can come to the store and freely take whatever you want?

On the Internet there are rumors that the promotion of sanitary napkins mankind has spent more money than space exploration. And you know, I'm inclined to believe it. Mad money flow back and forth of the millions of small pockets of the "workers" in a single big pockets of corporations. But each time millions little the total amount is slightly reduced, and large — slightly grows. To stop this process can only the global financial crisis, after which have to start from scratch, or a big war. Hardly anyone will agree on any of these options, and the third, alas, is not given.

You will ask me: "What can we do?" "How to get rid of the fatal passion?", "How to protect yourself?". I'm afraid the answer will disappoint you: I'm sure 95% of us will remain "plants", if not worse. At least the flowers turn to the sun, and we are not going to do, if only advertising that insists. The remaining 5% just have a strong desire not to succumb to manipulation. They are ready to leave the soothing comfort zone of the mass consciousness and, as a consequence, to understand and to accept ourselves alone. And this is the most terrible phobia of modern society. Realizing that each of us is not "all" we look at the active "tools of influence marketing" with a healthy dose of irony and finally clear.published

 

P. S. And remember, only by changing their consumption — together we change the world! ©

Source: people.onliner.by/opinions/2017/01/04/mnenie-602