Affluenza n. 1. An epidemic of stress, overwork, shopping and debt caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 2. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from one’s efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. 4. A book about the sickness, published by Berrett-Koehler

I just finished this book by De Graff et al and I wanted to write down a few thoughts. To be sure, the book got me thinking about the way society seems to be headed. Before I include some excerpts from the book, I think I’ll take a little stream of consciousness perambulation. Let’s go:

A rapidly growing business sector in the United States is the self storage industry. Americans simply have amassed too much stuff. Though the average house size has nearly doubled in the past forty years, our appetites for acquiring things have grown even faster. Ours is a culture of consumption and often, of conspicuous consumption. Contrast that to our ancestor’s philosophy of making things last (expressed by Brigham Young as “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”). That precept was embodied and adhered to by those who lived through the depression era, but such fundamental concepts are largely ignored today. Today we buy things we don’t need and then friviously toss them aside to purchase the latest new thing. Advertisers convince us that possession is the same as happiness, and so we end up with everything and ironically, at the same time, have nothing at all. Fearing entrance into the trite and cliche, the best things in life are indeed free and are in fact, not things at all.

Ok, thanks for enduring. Before I’m denounced as a left-wing nut, I should state that I do not agree with all the viewpoints expressed in the Affluenza. Though largely a treehugging, recreational-narcotic-using, save-the-whales, make-love-not-war type of a book, it does raise some good questions about the expendency of our evermore commerical-centered fast-paced life. It serves to highlights the ills of society: Over consumption, material-centricity, pollution, greed, Walmart, etc.

Here are some quotes from Affluenza

“More than ever, we have big houses and broken homes, high incomes and low morale, secured rights and diminished civility. We excel at making a living but often fail at making a life. We celebrate our prosperity but yearn for purpose. We cherish our freedom but long for connection. In an age of plenty, we feel spiritual hunger.”

“Advertising has trained us to solve problems with products; the deep structures of our personalities have been wired to medicate any uneasiness with our favorite drug, consumption. Divorce: splurge. Get married: splurge. Graduate with honors: splurge. Feel like a failure: splurge.”

“Ninety-five percent of our workers say they wish they could spend more time with their families”

“You might be well off materially but feel continually stressed out or as though your life lacks purpose or meaning.” I call this “having everything and yet having nothing.”

“The average American household carried about $9,000 in credit card debt during the year 2002… Even college students averaged $2,500… today our national savings rate hovers near zero and in some months falls below that line… sixty percent of families have so little in the way of financial reserves that they can only sustain their lifestyles for about a month if they lose their jobs. The next richest can only hold out for about three and a half months.”

“Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job you need so you can pay for the clothes, car and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it.”

How many of us feel as if our lives are truly meaningful? How many of us have time in our lives for rest, relaxation and reflection? How many of us are in control of our time? How many feel like their lives are in balance, and that they are living in harmony with the environment? How many of us are not tired frequently tired? How many are in shape physically, and financially? How much time do we have to help other people? How many of us are truly happy?

“Forty-two percent of American workers say they feel “used up” by the end of the workday. Sixty-nine percent say they’d like to slow down and live a more relaxed life.”

“The more Americans fill their lives with things, the more they tell psychiatrists, pastors, friends and family members that they feel “empty” inside. The more toys our kids have to play with, the more they complain of boredom.”

A study found, “Those individuals for whom accumulating wealth was a primary aspiration ‘were associated with less self-actualization, less vitality, more depression and more anxiety.’ [the study] demonstrated the deleterious consequences of having money as an important guiding principle in life.”

“71 percent of Americans are overweight by an average of ten pounds.”

So, those are the problems. What are some solutions?

“if we ‘produce’ our own entertainment, perhaps by learning to be musicians, master gardeners or woodworkers, informed conversationalists, or sports participants rather than ticket purchasing fans, we’ll reduce our financial needs substantially. If we provide some of our own transportation (and exercise) needs on foot — but living closer to work, stores and recreation — we carve a large chunk out of the $7,500 spent annually by the average car owner. In effect, instead of working from January 1 to March 10 just to cover transportation costs, we can knock off in February. Good diet, satisfying work and regular exercise… Cooking with healthy ingredients… Living in an energy-efficient home… Quality satisfies more deeply than quantity.”

Not all is peachy in the book. Many of their illustrations are archetypes out of the book How to Lie with Charts. The book is decidedly pro-democrat and very nearly anti-capitalism. They don’t offer a fair look at the advances science and technology have brought to the modern world. Instead of realizing that the average life expectancy and quality of life have dramatically risen over the years, they whine about how expensive and “worthless” medications are. They complain about eating meat. Instead of listing some of the benefits of the media and the information age, they moan about it all, including National Geographic Documentaries, which they lambaste as “scripted nature.”

In sum, I think the real desire of the authors of the book is not so much for balanced living, but for us all to become overtaxed, lazy, socialistic, pot-smoking, love-festing slugabeds; still I think some value can be pulled from the tares.

In order to be happier, we should all:

  • Spend less; get out of debt and start saving
  • Conserve more
  • Eat less
  • Work less
  • Garden more
  • Be more active
  • Do more things in nature
  • Be more of participants and less of spectators
  • Help others and be connected with others more
  • Take time to study and contemplate
  • Slow life down

Ironically, Bullfrog Films, who distributes the Affluenza documentary, sells the DVD for an insane $250 dollars. The cost sensitive can rent it for a reasonable $85 dollars.

References in the book:
www.timeday.org, www.newdream.org, www.simpleliving.net, www.simplicityforum.org