Protest Consumption with Creativity
The Ad-pocalypse
In the 1970s, the average person was exposed to anywhere between 500 to 1,600 ads per day. In contrast, in 2021, the average person was exposed to between 6,000 to 10,000 ads every single day. That represents an estimated 500–1,100% increase in daily ad exposure since the 1970s. (Wow!)
We see ads everywhere: on your TV, podcasts, social media, & streaming services — if you didn’t pay extra to remove ads — and let's not forget, even your refrigerators! Keep in mind, when some of these apps were created, their allure was that they had no advertisements, unlike cable TV. Now, they have strayed from what gravitated people to their clutches and will even force your hand to pay extra, should you not want the ads.
Couple these never ending ads with the skyrocketing prices of groceries, cheaply made consumables, gasoline, shrink-flation of home goods and packaged food, homes, and now the government is proposing 50-year home loans — so you will have to work well into your 80s just to afford your mortgage! It's exhausting and no wonder why people are losing hope or are just burnt out.
What You Can Do:
If you are tired of this never ending frenzy to grab your attention (and your wallet) then it's important to make your voice heard — bucking the system by creating instead of consuming.
Creating is a great form of protest against corporate greed because corporations need you to:
Buy
Scroll
Repeat
When you create, you break the cycle. You are no longer the product and your time becomes yours, not for someone else to profit from.
Creativity also makes better, well thought out, gifts and heirlooms to pass down to your children instead of your collection of POP! Characters.
Creativity creates lasting value that consumption can’t.
What do I mean by creativity?
Creativity has many forms:
Poems
Writing a book
Painting
Coloring
Writing Fan Fiction
Knitting
Quilling with paper
Sewing
Collecting Stamps
Pretty much anything that keeps you away from your phone or the TV.
Most people would consider these hobbies — and they’re correct — but they all have one thing in common: they stop you from scrolling endlessly or trying to, unsuccessfully, find meaning in your day.
Pausing consumption in exchange for creativity is a form of protest. In a system that makes money — by making you the product, by making you scroll and buy for fulfillment — choosing not to participate screams — not in volume, but in intensity.
