Table of contents
About Grayscale
An invitation to slow down, zoom out, and think deeply about how the internet is forming us.
OpeningLetter
You’ll wake up this morning and know what’s waiting in your inbox.
Multiple emails featuring limited time discounts, clever subject lines, and an invitation to buy something new. Today you’ll be overwhelmed with advertisements (over 5,000 of them), life hacks on how to be more efficient, trendy new diets, podcasts, Netflix shows, and the ability to scroll--mindlessly--through your social feeds. Your day was engineered for consumerism; a global religion that rises and falls with the stock market.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Consumerism believes an ever-expanding consumption of goods is advantageous to the economy. Inherently, we are all consumers investing resources in places, people, and things that matter to us. Buying things isn’t wrong, but the disease of consumerism can blind us all. When you measure what you consume against what you’re giving to the world--what do you see? Are you endlessly scrolling? Are you prostituting most of your nights away to Netflix? Are you anxious to find the next discount on something nonessential?
It’s estimated that American adults spend more than 11 hours per day watching, reading, listening to or simply interacting with media.
Where you spend your time is where your life is spent.
Juxtaposed to a life centered around consumerism my question to you is, “When was the last time you created something?” You weren’t poked or prodded or inspired, you reacted to your broken heart and made something that meant more than the next Amazon Prime package on your doorstep.
You wrote something.
You played something.
You created something.
In a world blind to how much it consumes--I hope in the words ahead you find a new invitation; to create more than you consume.
Eric Brown
Co-Founder, Whiteboard
When you measure what you consume against what you’re giving to the world--what do you see?
In this state of total consumerism, we have forgotten how to provide all-meaningful contact between ourselves and the earth. We do not understand, and I think it’s the rule that people inevitably destroy what they do not understand.”
Wendell Berry
“Consumerism thrives on emotional voids.”
Caroline Knapp
The BigPicture
A snapshot of consumerism at scale.
11
It’s estimated that American adults spend more than 11 hours per day watching, reading, listening to or simply interacting with media. (Nielsen)
$1.2T
Americans spend $1.2T annually on non-essential goods. (Wall Street Journal)
26B
Americans spent 22.6 billion minutes on Amazon during December 2017, more than the combined total spent on the rest of the top 10 e-commerce retailers (16.6 billion). (Comscore)
$18K
U.S. consumers spend at least $18,000 per year on non-essential items. (Fortunly)
EmbracingTension
Consumerism vs. Creativity
Consumerism
Without intention--consumerism (and how much we consume) becomes the silent killer in all of our lives. Watching ~2 hours of Netflix everyday. Scrolling Facebook ~1 hour/day. These simple actions result in compounding interest and become minutes, days, and years of time spent we’ll never get back.
Creativity
With intention--creativity offers an invitation to use your imagination and see the world with renewed perspective. Creating your ideas won’t happen in a vacuum. They won’t happen unless you make time for them. Creativity requires making your time a priority.
When was the last time you made something that wasn’t for likes, money, or productivity--but simply because it meant something to you?
In this state of total consumerism, we have forgotten how to provide all-meaningful contact between ourselves and the earth. We do not understand, and I think it’s the rule that people inevitably destroy what they do not understand.”
Wendell Berry
“Consumerism thrives on emotional voids.”
Caroline Knapp
The Reframe& Resources
The opportunity beyond consumption.
Is your school or workplace divided into "creatives" versus practical people? Yet surely, David Kelley suggests, creativity is not the domain of only a chosen few. Telling stories from his legendary design career and his own life, he offers ways to build the confidence to create...
To Know—
- How much time you’re giving to the screens in your life.
- How digital consumerism distracts society from the issues that matter.
- How your habits influence the people around you.
—and do.
- Create more than you consume.
- Put down your phone over dinner, and be present.
- Form a daily ritual to make something with your hands.
ConcludingReflection
Consumerism traps you in a world of screens, and enlists you to stay put.
To keep watching. To enslave your time. To steal your intention. If you’re going to defeat the efforts of consumerism, you must first take inventory of them. Additionally, you must also take inventory of your creative work. Author Ursula Le Guin said, “The creative adult is the child who survived.” Shake hands, and get reacquainted with the six-year old version of yourself. Better yet, fist bump or high five. Find the version of you that still holds innocence as a superpower, and uses imagination to create new worlds.
This kind of courageous creativity isn’t measured by followers.
It doesn’t mandate clicks, subscriptions, or an online course.
It doesn’t thrive on an addiction to media.
It gives--more than it takes. May you find that courageous creativity in yourself again.
Eric Brown
Co-Founder, Whiteboard
In a world blind to consumption, I hope you find a new invitation—to create more than you consume.”
