The Consumer Detox

Compared with our American grandparents and parents in 1957, we have twice as many cars, eat out at least twice as much and enjoy countless commodities, things our grandparents could only dream of at our age, but the question remains; are we any happier?

The short answer was “no”

Psychologist Dr. David G. Myers, PhD of Hope College wrote an article that appeared in American Psychologist (Vo. 55, No.1) where he concludes based on published data: “Compared with their grandparents, today’s young adults have grown up with much more affluence, slightly less happiness and much greater risk of depression and assorted social pathology… Our becoming much better off over the last four decades has not been accompanied by one iota of increased subjective well-being.”

The American Psychological Association asked the leading question here in June 2004, (APA June 2004 Monitor on Psychology, Vol 35, No. 6, Print version: page 52.) before the ubiquitous iPhone, appleTV, social media addiction and Netflix binging becoming a concern of mental health professionals. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media/201404/binge-viewing-redefines-tv-watching).

I’ll be publishing a blog post with much more detail and some of my personal thoughts from a medical and spiritual standpoint. I know a lot has been said about this in recent years, but I want to do an informal social experiment and I’d love for some of you to join me.

In 24 hours I will be embarking on a consumerism fast. You may want to incorporate some or all of my personal strategies into a fast of your own. I understand that there are somethings that you just cannot do, due to work demands, family dynamics, health concerns, etc.

I intend to approach this holistically in terms of mind, body and spirit.

Here is a simple breakdown of the thirty day consumer detox that will start in the morning July 6:

1.       Media consumption (including social media and television) except for creative outlets like blogs, books (whether audio or print).

2.       Alcohol (I’ll explain why in the blog)

3.       Sugar (I’ll explain this in the blog)

4.       Leisure (this means intentional daily activity whether that’s 30 squats in the morning, walking the dog or Crossfit) which will entail some sort of physical activity every single day.

5.       Do something creative every day. (This could be writing, drawing, photography, building something with Legos, whatever is a satisfying creative outlet for you.

6.       Intentional Prayer and Bible study

7.       Online shopping (except for essentials if you get that sort of thing online)

8.       Adequate sleep (at least 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep)

9.       Turning digital devices like phones and iPad off in the evening. (No texts, email checking) after 5pm

If you’re on board. Let me know. Send me an email at consumerdetox@yahoo.com and I'll send updates and some extra resources to help us stay on track.

I’d love to have as much involvement from others on this as possible to help keep me accountable and to make us the healthiest, happiest community. I'll be blogging my progress as time goes by.

Best wishes,

Zach