I'll put myself out there and say that I experience a mild form of this. I'm actually quite frugal and scrupulous with money, and I don't buy physical items indiscriminately (if anything I...
I'll put myself out there and say that I experience a mild form of this. I'm actually quite frugal and scrupulous with money, and I don't buy physical items indiscriminately (if anything I over-research most purchases and try to buy only what I need), but I've always had a consistent itch to purchase digital goods, and when I clear it in one area, it crops up in another.
For a long time it's been videogames, and my Steam library is an embarrassing testament to my lack of self-restraint. I actually just recently committed to not buying game bundles anymore given how many unplayed games I have -- especially after a number of COVID-related sales -- so my brain decided to switch over to music, and now I'm buying stuff on Bandcamp despite having an active music streaming subscription where I could listen to almost all of the same music sans purchase. Likewise, before games, it was ebooks. My Kindle library is filled with more books than I'll ever read. The target for my purchases changes over time but has been pretty omnipresent throughout my adult life.
Unlike the people in the article, however, my spending is far less excessive. Part of the allure for me is the bargain aspect, and it takes a steep discount and a low overall cost for me to consider something eligible, so I'm not dropping thousands of dollars at a time but instead $3 here and $2 there, making the purchases less like unmanageable binges and more like having a latte from a coffee shop instead of making it myself. They certainly do add up, and it's obviously not financially optimal, but it's also not negatively impacting my life. I'm lucky enough that my income affords me some disposability, and my foundations are all intact: I never run a balance on my credit cards, I'm able to pay all my bills, and I contribute to my savings and retirement. Financially I'm sound, so the little bit of "play money" I'm spending on digital goods isn't breaking the bank or digging me into a hole.
I realize this all sounds like the rationalizations of an addict, and maybe to some extent it is, but I genuinely don't experience negative effects from my "habit". In fact, it took me a long time to come to terms with the idea that I keep buying things because there's something about the process of shopping itself that is genuinely fulfilling to me. Digital goods are a nice method of doing this because I don't accumulate junk or waste resources, and my excessive spending is also supporting authors, musicians, and game developers, which I do feel is valuable.
It's ultimately pretty bizarre though, as I'm fully aware of what's going on and the logical response is, of course, "only buy what you need". And I understand that -- I really do. For whatever reason though, that doesn't scratch my itch, so while my overall financial situation is suboptimal on account of that itch, I also feel like I've reached a place where I'm scratching it pretty optimally.
Like @kfwyre I've also noticed I've fallen into this bad habit during the past 4 months or so. Just going from memory I've bought the following things: 4k 144hz Acer Monitor: $730 Pair of Xero...
Like @kfwyre I've also noticed I've fallen into this bad habit during the past 4 months or so. Just going from memory I've bought the following things:
4k 144hz Acer Monitor: $730
Pair of Xero shoes from a thread that got me thinking about shoes on here: $80
Tangerine V2 switches from a group buy: $84
Switch Opener, and Switch lube from the same group buy: $40
Deskmat from a different group buy (Albeit, I had my eyes on this one for several months. More planned than not.): $30
KAT Cyberpunk keycaps since my coworker shared a link with me and I've wanted to try the KAT profile out for a while: $55
New Caster wheels for my desk chair to make rolling around smoother: $25
Mini-Displayport cable to connect work laptop to the new monitor mentioned above: $20
On top of that I've been paying two rents for the past 3 months, and plan to buy two more "big ticket" items, but only since I've been looking at these since probably March.
Bamboo "low pro" keyboard when it finally hits group buy stage: $170
Electronic Drumkit ~$1700.
After typing all of this out I think I'm going to take some time this weekend and see how much I've spent on stuff that I don't need over the course of this pandemic. I didn't think I had the buying bug this bad, but that's obviously not the case :|
I'll put myself out there and say that I experience a mild form of this. I'm actually quite frugal and scrupulous with money, and I don't buy physical items indiscriminately (if anything I over-research most purchases and try to buy only what I need), but I've always had a consistent itch to purchase digital goods, and when I clear it in one area, it crops up in another.
For a long time it's been videogames, and my Steam library is an embarrassing testament to my lack of self-restraint. I actually just recently committed to not buying game bundles anymore given how many unplayed games I have -- especially after a number of COVID-related sales -- so my brain decided to switch over to music, and now I'm buying stuff on Bandcamp despite having an active music streaming subscription where I could listen to almost all of the same music sans purchase. Likewise, before games, it was ebooks. My Kindle library is filled with more books than I'll ever read. The target for my purchases changes over time but has been pretty omnipresent throughout my adult life.
Unlike the people in the article, however, my spending is far less excessive. Part of the allure for me is the bargain aspect, and it takes a steep discount and a low overall cost for me to consider something eligible, so I'm not dropping thousands of dollars at a time but instead $3 here and $2 there, making the purchases less like unmanageable binges and more like having a latte from a coffee shop instead of making it myself. They certainly do add up, and it's obviously not financially optimal, but it's also not negatively impacting my life. I'm lucky enough that my income affords me some disposability, and my foundations are all intact: I never run a balance on my credit cards, I'm able to pay all my bills, and I contribute to my savings and retirement. Financially I'm sound, so the little bit of "play money" I'm spending on digital goods isn't breaking the bank or digging me into a hole.
I realize this all sounds like the rationalizations of an addict, and maybe to some extent it is, but I genuinely don't experience negative effects from my "habit". In fact, it took me a long time to come to terms with the idea that I keep buying things because there's something about the process of shopping itself that is genuinely fulfilling to me. Digital goods are a nice method of doing this because I don't accumulate junk or waste resources, and my excessive spending is also supporting authors, musicians, and game developers, which I do feel is valuable.
It's ultimately pretty bizarre though, as I'm fully aware of what's going on and the logical response is, of course, "only buy what you need". And I understand that -- I really do. For whatever reason though, that doesn't scratch my itch, so while my overall financial situation is suboptimal on account of that itch, I also feel like I've reached a place where I'm scratching it pretty optimally.
Like @kfwyre I've also noticed I've fallen into this bad habit during the past 4 months or so. Just going from memory I've bought the following things:
On top of that I've been paying two rents for the past 3 months, and plan to buy two more "big ticket" items, but only since I've been looking at these since probably March.
After typing all of this out I think I'm going to take some time this weekend and see how much I've spent on stuff that I don't need over the course of this pandemic. I didn't think I had the buying bug this bad, but that's obviously not the case :|