Comments
ACCORDING TO LIZ - Clickbait is a marketing technique using a text or a thumbnail link designed to attract attention and draw online users away from what they are focused on to pursue something else down a rabbit hole.
And entice them to read, watch, or listen to sponsored content.
Which may or may not be what attracted their eyes in the first place, but is often sensationalized, misleading, or otherwise deceptively designed to encourage impulsive purchases.
It also enhances personal info available to data-divers and could put the less wary at risk.
It is a rabbit hole. You fall into it, take the easy way, don’t get to analyze and proactively choose. Certainly not a ladder to climb to success.
And like a box of chocolates or a jumbo bag of potato chips when you are on a diet – it’s never just one. That first one leads to another and another and another.
Then, when you do want to go back to something productive, the A.I.-addled search engines direct you to what they think you want, not what you were looking for. Taking more clicks and starting another train of distraction… And another and another.
It’s a time suck and encourages emotional responses.
Rather than allowing people to take a collective middle road, it encourages more and more extreme views. Because when you’re revved up, you don’t allow yourself time to think.
It’s less of a problem when you are enticed into buying that unneeded pair of shoes, but if you are the president with your thumb on the botton to start a nuclear war and India pisses you off…
And it’s an issue for the entire economy when study after study shows that surfing the Internet for personal purposes can cost a company up to 25% of an average employee’s time – billions of dollars down the drain for workers to surreptitiously watch what’s trending on TikTok, post on the blogosphere, follow friends on Facebook, seek matches on dating sites… and surf the sales.
Sites that primarily exist to boost overconsumption. How often can anyone escape from any app without being offered more opportunities to buy, buy, buy?
As these websites multiply and profit – clearly exorbitantly or they wouldn’t be such a cancer on our society – people and the planet pay a huge price.
According to the folks at the Story of Stuff:
1. Every click fuels a chain reaction—one that starts with extraction and production and ends in a landfill. Fast fashion items, shiny gadgets, and microtrends (remember the Stanley cup craze?) have short lifespans, pushing us toward a cycle of constant consumption. This isn’t just bad for your wallet; it’s disastrous for our planet. The carbon footprint of shipping, the waste from returns (many of which, by the way, end up in the landfill), and the environmental cost of constant production all add up.
2. Behind every “add to cart” is a person who made, packed, or shipped that product. Many of these workers face harsh conditions, significant health risks, low wages, and job insecurity. Big tech’s pursuit of profit comes at the expense of human rights.
3. The more we buy into the idea that stuff equals happiness, the more we get trapped in a loop of mindless consumption. This isn’t just about cluttering our homes; it clutters our minds, too.
Some may feel overwhelmed by never-ending exhortations to purchase; others are convinced that this over-purchasing actually helps fuel the American economy. But the latter is a specious argument made by capitalist profiteers who want more, more, and more... at the expense of everyone and everything else.
The way to break this cycle is not to try to legislate it out of existence – for centuries companies and their owners have been able to buy our politicians – but to individually act to reduce the demand that drives the disposable society.
Present day Americans are aware of their forebears’ approach to survival in times of far less disposable income.
Repair. Reuse. Repurpose. Recycle.
Repair can be more gratifying than simply replacing an item. Fix what you can and demand legislation to stop manufacturers making it difficult and expensive to repair what you already own.
Reuse is satisfying, give yourself a pat on the back for purchasing wisely. Share stuff with neighbors and friends to ensure regular use of what you do buy, creating a good return on your investment.
Repurposing adds your own creativity to reuse. What’s old can be new again with just a bit of thought and effort.
Recycle, but in a way that doesn’t further damage the planet, using extra energy with unsustainable supply chains.
Find new homes for items for which you no longer have a use.
Buy second-hand; what’s old can be new or open other opportunities. Shopping used reduces your carbon footprint and saves money. You can join a Buy Nothing group to exchange articles for free [[[https://buynothingproject.org/]]] or create your own.
And then add Reflect.
Is an item really needed? Can something else suffice? What is driving the urge to buy? Are you mad at your mother? Feeling belittled at work?Wait a week. Or a month till the market moves on to the next pet rock and reconsider. That must-have object will almost certainly still be there and likely at a reduced price.
Or is it something you can borrow or rent, especially for one-time use?
I love to read but there are great libraries out there, brick-and-mortar as well as online – and I can then buy those I will want to re-read and loan to others, while returning the once-and-done single reads to the library for others to enjoy.
Think about the future, think about the planet – its resources gutted, its surface growing cancerous landfills, tailings piles, filthy exhausts, and poisoned groundwater.
Its reserves are not infinite.
The problems have been recognized; now Americans need to power up each individual’s resolve to reduce their carbon footprint and set an example for others.
Do what you can. Do what is comfortable. But do something.
Re-embrace the do-it-ourselves mentality of our ancestors and seize control of our lives.
Reject running up personal debt that will destroy dreams for the future and never fill the emptiness that can only be satisfied by contributions good to the world.
Reinvest in quality of living and improving life for the next generations.
And even, if you are a clicking addict, just set your feeds to share the word that less is more.
(Liz Amsden is a contributor to CityWatch and an activist from Northeast Los Angeles with opinions on much of what goes on in our lives. She has written extensively on the City's budget and services as well as her many other interests and passions. In her real life she works on budgets for film and television where fiction can rarely be as strange as the truth of living in today's world.)
