Whether it is the modern creator economy or traditional capitalist economy…
It all runs on one thing.
That is “CONSUMPTION.”
When you consume content like watching videos or reading blogs, the creator makes money.
That’s how consumption runs the creator economy.
Same goes with products, when you buy things, the producer makes money.
Without consumers, the economy will collapse.
And as you know, money is the biggest motivator that drives all of us.
So those who are producers, never want you to stop consuming.
This is why advertising and marketing exist…
to convince you constantly that you need to consume more and more.
A creator or producer will always come up with new and exciting things for you to consume.
He will try to convince you why his content/product is the ONLY solution to all your problems.
And his marketing messages will keep buzzing inside your head, making you uncomfortable and feeling like you are really missing something great if you don’t buy his stuff.
Same will be in other cases where…
– A dentist will try to convince you of a unique surgery that will give you a hollywood smile.
– A real estate agent will convince you why buying this house will make you enormous money.
– A bike mechanic will convince you why your bike needs new clutch plates.
– A new mobile phone ad will convince you why your current phone is outdated.
So on and on….
Marketing in some way is creating a disease and then selling the cure.
Attention Deficit Disorder, Seasonal Affect Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder.
These aren’t actual diseases. These are marketing ploys. As Steven Pressfield explained in his book “The War of Art”.
You can see now, how everything around us is structured to make us endless consumers.
And we are the consumers.
Consuming what is the need is not a problem.
Compulsive consumption is.
Because our brain is not wired for satisfaction.
The more we consume something the more we actually desire it.
And our desire for more never ends.
That’s one of the causes of our boredom, unhappiness, scattered and absent mindedness.
But we can’t fully blame marketing world and the economy for making us chronic consumers.
Because the cause is also INTERNAL.
We consume to fill the void in us.
We buy things to fill our inner hollowness.
We mindlessly scroll to avoid our inner calling for true work.
We feel dissatisfied with old phone for it no longer adds to our synthetic identity.
In short, consumption somehow hides our darker sides.
For instance, we know we are not a book reader, but we make pictures with books and put them on Insta story to construct our synthetic idendity of a “book reader”.
We buy an iPhone and shop from brands to hide our middle class.
We watch videos on “how to get clients” to mask our dark side of procrastination for actually putting the work to chase clients.
Its an ongoing cycle that will only end with you.
Leaving you , dissatisfied, bored and hollow.
So, instead of running away from your inner feelings and trying to find solace in products or content consumption…
Sit with yourself and embrace the thing you are running from.
Embrace it to be transformed from a mindless consumer to a purposeful producer.
Because money, happiness, satisfaction, and inner fullness are on the producer or creator side of the economy.
Do it before the consumption consumes you away.
Thank you for reading.
See you in the next post.
– Sami