The best time to be alive is undoubtedly now. The average life expectancy across the globe is the highest it has ever been. For thousands of years, the death of a child before the age of five, and especially during birth, was a common sight and part of everyday life. Now we would consider this an unthinkable tragedy. Advances made in healthcare and medicine have saved billions of lives. The proportion of the world’s population living in extreme poverty is the lowest it has ever been (and it is persistently nudging closer to zero). Famine, which was a normal part of life for most of human history, is almost completely something of the past. In fact, global food production today produces more than enough food to feed the entire planet. (We actually produce a lot of excess food—yet there are still people dying of hunger. This is a disgrace.)
We work considerably less, including around the house, than in the past. We have more money and time that we can potentially devote to more meaningful experiences. We have more freedom and more opportunities to live truly authentic lives. The progress we have made as humankind through science and technology in the last couple of centuries is astonishing. Society today is in many respects liberating, and it offers every opportunity to be authentic. But it can also sometimes be threatening and oppressing.
As we have learned by now, the society and culture a person grows up in plays an undeniable role in shaping the person’s identity. Society influences our likes and dislikes, our desires and disgusts. In many ways, society and her institutions dictate our behavior and in doing so, it can compromise our freedom.
It so often happens that people turn into societal zombies, going through life on autopilot, guided by the rigid rails of society. Institutions force people into one-size-fits-all templates, confiscating their autonomy. People simply go through the automatic motions of everyday life, never being prompted to think for themselves. They become part of an anonymous public conforming to rules and norms. They lose their identity. But worst of all, they lose the vivacity of authentic experiences that give life its meaning. They lose their freedom. Take as an example one of the biggest threats to our freedom: Consumerism.
Profit-thirsty companies use clever marketing strategies to manipulate us, pulling our invisible strings, making us dance to their every tune. The hardwired parts of the brain are easy to manipulate using colors, sounds, item placement, and many other basic techniques. Companies use this knowledge to purposefully trick us into spending more money. Red and yellow colors (think of the typical in-store promotion posters or the notification alerts on one’s favorite apps) grab one’s attention, inducing positive feelings of excitement, optimism, and expectation. The aroma of freshly baked bread filling the grocery store makes anyone’s stomach roar and causes desire to drip from one’s mouth. But, more to the point, it also makes a person buy more food; unnecessary pastries that will most likely go to waste (food that contributes to the excess produced that could have fed the entire human population). The background music filtering into one’s ears, which is entertaining the unconscious for the most part, has a similar effect—it calms the nerves and prompts a person to spend more. Even the architectural layout of stores and entire malls are designed to keep customers there longer so that they can spend more money (casinos are the worst—stay away). These tricks speak directly to an individual’s unconscious mind. The only motivation is to con the individual into spending more money.
People are constantly trying to hack our brains, exploiting the vulnerabilities in our human psychology. This is the dictionary definition of systematic exploitation. (And this is not even mentioning the exploitation of laborers around the world and the unregarded damage being done to the environment as a result of consumerist greed.)
But wait, there’s more (marketing joke). In our current digital age, it is even possible to personalize the exploitation techniques. And what company will turn away from such an opportunity? A person’s browser history and social media information is used to customize the marketing strategies to fully exploit their vulnerabilities. Personal data, such as preferences and habits, are sold to companies that use it for their selfish benefit; to hack people’s brains in an effort to make more money.
Internet search results are customized to one’s skillfully developed profile (based on one’s historical data). One’s shopping history is used to customize pricing (one will pay more for something they really want). It can be argued that some of this makes life more convenient. But think again. For the perpetrators in the fancy Armani suits, it is all about money. The bottom line is always profit. In the process of filling their pockets, they are controlling the size of our worlds. We only see what they want us to see. These big tech companies control what we are exposed to. One’s internet search results, social media feeds, advertisements, and pop-up notices are trimmed to fit one’s profile, further reinforcing one’s preferences, views, and prejudices.
Instead of broadening our worldviews, technology can shrink it. It reinforces one’s current view of the world. It leads to a self-perpetuating cycle of confirmation bias (which can easily lead to bigotry). It robs people of the richness and variety abundant in the real world out there. It creates larger rifts between groups.
Social media has become toxic echo chambers that inevitably lead to societal polarization. And while this is happening, the CEOs swap their expensive Armani suits for even more expensive diamond-studded, gold-threaded Valentino suits. And for some inexplicable reason, we now also desire such a suit.
The whole purpose of consumerism is to cunningly imbed false expectations into our heads. Its goal is to make us believe that the material objects we buy will result in happiness. We are buying happiness. That Valentino suit will make me happy. Owning a Ferrari will make me happy. Those new pair of Nike sneakers will make me happy.
Consumerism creates new (unneeded) wants. Making us believe the road to happiness is through buying stuff. Turning us into irrational rats in the rat race. We become conditioned to believe we constantly need more money to buy more things.
However, the blame cannot be solely aimed at the big, multinational companies. We are also conditioned by the larger society, including our friends and family. Society determines the mindset of its citizens, their likes and dislikes. Society is the imagined reality that dictates our behavior. We become receptacles for society’s expectations. And unfortunately, it is the current consumerist society that seduces us into becoming monotonous puppets all vying for social acceptance.
We are brainwashed into longing for prestige and social admiration. And we are led to believe that we can achieve this by gathering enough material goods. Life becomes a blurry rush with the sole purpose of making more money, to buy more stuff. If we don’t spend every second of every day dedicated toward making more money, we are branded as lazy.
The worst revelation is that in many (most) cases, we are so eager to please and win the admiration of the very people we despise. We intentionally sell our souls to the devil, becoming slaves to the system, just to impress someone that barely takes notice of our existence.
Consumerism can be lethal for individuality, but it is not all bad. It did give us the Big Mac and Star Wars. And there is hope. Hope to escape the psychological exploitation of consumerism. We must take back the control. The customer can and must dictate his own wants and needs. And the way to do this is to be rational. Be the intelligent consumer—the one that thinks rationally before buying. Wake up from the dazed slumber. Be conscious. Be authentic. Be aware of the invisible strings of consumerism and the influence of society.
Another enemy of authenticity is political affiliation. The human brain has an innate propensity to divide the world into groups, into us and them. We effortlessly form group identities, sometimes on the basis of completely arbitrary characteristics, and then assume ourselves in competition with other groups. Large armies of citizens lose themselves as they define their entire identities based on the political party they belong to. No longer is support for policy based on reason, but rather to collide with whatever the opposition party endorses. It is us versus them.
Our party affiliation defines our likes and dislikes; loves and hates; wants, desires, goals, beliefs and fears. Our worldviews. Our views on climate change. Pro-life or pro-choice. Tax reform. There is no room for reason. And this is obviously dangerous. We must be rational. Life is not black and white (or red and blue). We must think for ourselves, even if it leads to many shades of purple. In fact, we must embrace the variety of different hues. Diversity of opinion is good, as it leads to creativity and progress. One is allowed to enjoy NASCAR and sushi; Swan Lake and chicken wings; fishing and Beethoven.
So, break free from the consumerist shackles. Lose the political chains. Freedom in a deterministic world is being aware of the causes and reasons behind one’s actions and choices. To not be driven by emotions or one’s manipulated unconscious. But to be conscious in every moment. Be conscious of one’s choices and decisions. Think rationally with open eyes. Don’t just blindly follow convention or authority.
To be free is to be authentic. Free from manipulation. To be truly free is to be unique. Be one’s true self. Be the person one is uniquely capable of being. Find one’s own genuine wants and desires, dreams and wishes. Each individual alone knows which experiences are most valuable and worthwhile to pursue. Therefore, only the individual can and must choose what he or she wants, free from societal pressures. Free from the tyranny governing ordinary existence.
The greatest people in history didn’t just conform to societal expectations. They pushed the boundaries. They dared to dream—and then they had the courage to follow their dreams. They were not afraid to be different. And they were not afraid to challenge the status quo. Or to speak out against authority.
Freedom of speech is a protected right in most parts of the world. And rightly so. In fact, it should be an obligation to challenge authority and question the status quo. We must persistently question the purpose and relevance of our institutions. This forms part of the continuous dialogue that is morality.
But most important is to also question and challenge ourselves. Examine one’s own life for signs of unwanted manipulation or conformity for the sake of conformity. It is every person’s duty to live their authentic best lives. Be true to oneself. Be who one really is and wants to be. Jump out of the closet with pride and announce oneself as their true self—whichever letter of the alphabet one may identify with. One can only be truly happy if they are true to themselves. Freedom and authenticity are grounded in all the choices we make every day. Be aware, be conscious, and be in control of one’s choices. That is true freedom. And don’t be controlled by the pursuit of money. The old cliché is true—money can’t buy happiness. Research shows that a person needs a basic minimum income to be happy. Anything one earns above that does not add to happiness. Research further shows that experiences add more to one’s level of happiness than material stuff. Once one buys something, it immediately starts losing its value—whereas in many cases, the value of an extraordinary experience will only grow with time (like a good red wine). So slow down. Get out of the rat race. Simplify life—one can satisfy their needs with the least amount of material sources and ensure there is enough beauty left of the planet for future inhabitants to enjoy. Identify the meaningful experiences that make one happy and focus on achieving them. Happiness is not just the accumulation of material goods—even if that is what society wants us to believe.
Further Reading
Internet Resources:
Tinybuddha.com – forget what other people expect
Stanford Philosophy – Authenticity
Philnotes.com – Jean Paul Sartre’s concept of authenticity
PhilosophyNow.org – limits of authenticity
Books worth reading:
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker
Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre
Existentialism Is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
