Why Do People Enjoy Shopping?

Wow! I had to react to this post. I have to disagree with the premise. Shopping, by its nature is painful - mentally, emotionally and financially. Perhaps you are in the majority and I'm on the fringe, but to me, the concept of materialism being tied to affluence is a concept built through either advertising or an individual insecurity.



Getting what you truly need at a fair price probably brings satisfaction to any human. Shopping as an "experience" - pleasure or pain boils down to psychology.

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Great point about 'participating in life'--I just posted about not liking shopping much, but I didn't even think about visiting the local farmer's market. That is very nourishing to the soul!



I find your comment about the butcher interesting, b/c I often think that if more people really considered where their animal-based 'food' came from, they wouldn't eat it! But here you actually talk with someone about the animals you're going to eat. Just curious (not judging, honestly--just wondering about your perspective), how do you view the connection of 'dinner' to a formerly living being that feels pain and would try to avoid dying if it could?

Personally, I typically hate shopping--though I think there may be some deep-rooted 'hunter-gatherer' satisfaction in it for the 'gatherers' among us. I think it's fun about twice a year to browse around and see what's out there that I haven't seen before. But beyond that--ick. Now, I'm a woman who LOVES clothes, and I also enjoy home decor and having good, functional items around the house. When I buy clothing, I will literally hang it on my doorknob and just look at it for a while (it is like wearable art to me). And when I buy something new for my home or some great functional gadget (from a garden hose sprayer to a rice cooker), I have a deep appreciation for that item's usefulness. But the act of going out and looking for those items? There are a million other things I'd like to be doing with my very limited (and therefore extremely precious) spare time!!! The only thing I can think of that I enjoy about it is the act of actually finding a really great thing; maybe a little bit like an Easter egg hunt. It might be more fun if I had nothing else to do with my time.

shopping is fabulous i spent 4 years at uni writing a dissertation on why!!! .... BUT its even better if the items that are purchased are made and brought to market in the correct way..... recycled products are not good enough because if they had been thought through in the first place there would be no need to recycle them. I can only speak from experience.... we make our products by hand using no electricity and creating no waste, they are made from natural transitional organic materials - this means that when our products come to the end of there life they can naturally breakdown. in my opinion its all about where things come from.....

Shopping is fun because the items we discover offer us a possibility for the future. A jacket that makes us feel good because we look great in it promises a happier sense of self. A pasta machine promises a fun Sunday spent cooking. A used just-the-right piece of furniture promises a better looking home. It's part of the American sense of hope. Now, if we could only channel that sense of hope toward sustainable activities...

i love 'good' shopping. going to my local butcher and talking about the cows and the chickens that i'm buying; talking to the lad who runs the local vegetable shop about his school work and the price of eggplants and getting ideas for recipes; asking my local pharmacist what to do about a tooth ache. I love running my hands down shirts and sweaters at the local second hand shop, or eyeing the latest piece of jewlery from the woman who makes it herself. That kind of shopping does feed some part of me. I feel I'm really participating in life and taking care of myself at the same time. As for big malls - get me out!