Consumption, Over-consumption, Pornification
In this essay I am going to talk about the pornification of basically every aspect of our modern lives, what consequences it has on all of us and what we can do to stop it. Pornification is consumption run wild which in turn is causing many of the major problems we face today. From bigger is better in every aspect to the shameless waste of resources in order to produces things that are of no use. Our society is stuck in a over-consumption spiral that will only increase.
We will look at essential consumption, unnecessary consumption and at the ones that are responsible for it. But because it is not all doom and gloom, Chapter 5 will look at what we can do in order to fight the effects of pornification and how we can reverse them making life better for everyone.
Let’s get started.
What is pornification? Absolutely right it comes from porn. Today porn is widely available, and is more accepted into society than just a few decades ago. So much so that porn being constantly present makes us less and less sensitive to human interactions. In particular to making love and having sex in the ugly and disgusting way it is. We have been trained to expect and behave differently and the over consumption of it leads to unsatisfying results in the real world.
Pornification is the evolution of over-consumption. It is much worse and it is not going to stop. Over-consumption has become a buzz word to describe that people use more than they actually need that this surplus of resources that is wasted could have been used to do something else. But this is not entirely true.
Everyone has experienced times of over-consumption and can relate to it. For example when I go out on the weekend, I might drink too much. But there is a fine line that is very easy to cross. You wake up the next morning and don’t remember a thing, did spent all your money and your phone is missing. Waking up confused and not knowing what happened makes me feel very uncomfortable, not to forget the hangover that feels like it is here to end me. Usually after such a night I plead to never do this again and I certainly have.
After this bad experience you try to avoid it the next time around.
This is over-consumption, it has an immediate effect that is usually bad, and it prompts an immediate feedback – not to do it again.
When it comes to pornification it is different. Here we don’t over consume at once and the feedback, that what we did was bad is not there. It is a slow creeping change that we don’t notice in our day to day lives. Pornification happens over decades or even centuries. It spans generations, making it extremely hard to pin down. We gradually consume more and more. This has the effect that when we stop and try to notice what is going on we can’t see it. Because the whole of society has adjusted to it. If everybody is doing it, it is okay. It is even hard not to do it.
Decades of slow change have led us to a point where we in the west consume unheard amounts of resources. We stop and look left and right and see that everyone around us is doing the same so we just continue.
In the long run pornification has the same bad feelings attached to it as binge drinking. Maybe even worse, because what took decades to build up will also take decades to fix. Our current pornification is making humans sick and breaks social contracts. Especially when it comes to food and media. Two of the things that influence us most.
Consumption is good, over consumption is bad and pornification is the worst. Living beings need to consume. In order to stay alive we need the essentials.
It probably comes to no ones surprise that we need food. Multiple times a day. If we stop eating we will die in weeks. Water is even more critical. A lack of essential consumption is a death sentence to every living being.
Luckily in the western world we don’t have to worry about the lack of food, clean drinking water or air. But not everyone has this luxury.
And it is not just food, water and air. We need to consume shelter that comes in the form of houses, buildings, cars and more. It helps humans survive and no matter how good or bad the climate is you need shelter to stay save. Some places on earth would not be inhabitable without it.
Shelter has also another essential function, it can provide heat in cold climate and cold in warm climate.
These things are essential to a good save human life.
Social contact is another crucial good. In fact it is so essential that if not tended, people will have many problems. But social contact is the only thing that is not going towards pornification but in fact the opposite. The decrease of it and interactions between people have been going on for decades but the pandemic accelerated this problem drastically. Why this is a problem and what is causing it will be discussed in Chapter 4. Here I just say this, a splintered society with people living alone and only having forced work contact if at all, is increasing in pornification.
We over consume food on a huge scale in the west. While large numbers of people on this planet don’t have enough to eat, the western world has the exact opposite. Too much. And this is by design. We don’t eat food anymore, we eat things that have been engineered to resemble food that at the same time make us addicted to them. This is mostly done by adding sweeteners like sugar and corn syrup to everything. It becomes harder by the minute to find healthy food that has not been engineered.
The addiction is further increased by aggressive marketing. One example here would be our obsessions with, good for the planet, vegetarian, vegan foods. We fake it by engineering it using factories and refineries that use ungodly amounts of energy to make something that is to resemble the real thing but is neither good for the body nor the planet.
The kind of food is not just the problem, but we eat too much of it. We crave the sweet, salty and fatty tastes of these products. The portion sizes are too big. Just this weekend I got tempted to visit McDonald’s and as always I ate too much.
It is not always easy because especially when going out to a restaurant portions are big and having a healthy options might be more expensive.
But there is the essential consumption over-consumption pornification sandwich, which unfortunately has gained in popularity. What I am talking about is the time when we feel exhausted and tired because we had a hard day or we are not feeling well in general. We are not up to spend half an hour cooking something so we decide to order takeout or buy snacks like ice cream or chips. We sit down in front of the TV, computer or phone and we drift off. We consume some nonsense on a screen while consuming unhealthy kinds of food. But it feels good, comforting. This paired with a lack of social contact makes us do this sandwich over and over again.
If food, water, air, shelter and social contact are some of the essential things. What are things we don’t need? Well, basically everything else.
Lets start with our modern life improvements. Ordering things online, is absolutely non essential. If it would really be essential it would be available through more than one medium.
But there is a race to make everything order-able from the internet. We order our food online because we are to lazy to cook and we expect the delivery to arrive within a few minutes.
Next day delivery, is a tiny bit like Christmas. And all it took to get your cheap Chinese laser pointer to you was a logistics network that costs trillions of dollars, that is running 24/7 and consuming giant amounts of resources to stay alive and exploits millions of workers all over the globe. And we get annoyed if a package gets delayed. This is entitlement and convenience on a level that would make every king of the past jealous.
If it would take two to four weeks for a package to arrive and in the meantime we would be asked if we really want it, many people would decide against it. But the convenience of same day delivery makes us buy things we do not need more frequently.
Would we only buy what we really needed, a lot of products, websites and companies would be obsolete and the individual could save a lot of money.
The same problem with food are also present in not needed stuff. Most products we buy are absolutely over-sized for what their daily usage will be. People live in houses that are way to big, but because everyone does it is not just accepted but as something to aspire to.
The trend to bigger and more wasteful products that are rarely utilized to its fullest is especially apparent when it comes to cars. SUVs have exploded in popularity and every manufacturer has one to sell. What is their purpose? Are they off road vehicles or city cruisers? In my opinion they don’t have one. No one needs three tons of steel moving around a single person. If you work of road you would not buy a SUV because it is absolutely unusable as such. It just so you can barrel down the I95 in a vehicle that is slightly taller than a regular car.
It gets even worse when it comes to electric SUVs that basically try to combine the stupidity of this kind of vehicle and the efficiency that comes from an electric drive train. But we buy these cars, more every year. They burn obscene amounts resources, resources that could be used to build smaller and more efficient cars, bikes, buses, trains etc..
If the individual would be really concerned about climate change SUVs would not increase in numbers every year. But we think we deserve them.
Why do we keep consuming more and more stuff and in turn increase the amount of material and energy that needs to be used to make these things? We are pushed to do these things. Manufacturers are interested that we buy as much as possible from them and if possible the product with the highest margin. This is why there is a new version of a phone every year, a new version of the car every year, new trends to chase. New bells and whistles that warrant a higher price. This is why companies build products that break after a planned amount of time.
We are intrigued and addicted by the new and shiny no matter if the last new and shiny was only a short time ago. We want the new, because in our materialistic world having the newest and best is a status symbol. We could live very well without not introducing a new car or a new phone for the next five to ten years.
The downside of this practice is that you run out of ideas. Companies have to make up reasons why this new product is supposedly better compared to last years model. These so called innovations are just getting more and more ridiculous over time.
One area where where it is easy to see is films, TV and music. It all is formulaic and boring. Media has been pornified the hardest because it is really easy. At least easier than making a new physical thing every year.
In the past, going to see a movie meant something, it was an experience, seeing a good TV show was something extraordinary, discovering a new favorite tune felt special. Now this does not exist anymore. We can listen to all the music, watch all the movies and binge all the TV we can handle and that all the time. The cost of consuming media has also drastically decreased. We don’t have to earn it anymore. We can just watch, a reward without an effort.
Bets of all, we can do it while eating and being alone in our sad apartments. It is all so convenient.
And we loose our minds if Netflix has a new show that is a bit better than average because we have been so numbed and are so used to content that making something really stand out is hard, because it takes time. Time is something we don’t have if we consume all the media we want all the time.
This is why movies, shows, music and games feel so repetitive, because they are made by people who only look at what worked in the past and copy it. A copy of a copy of a copy.
Once in a while there is a break out hit that is quickly copied so many times that even the source material looses its credibility. Faster and faster because we have to consume more and more. Media is truly pornified.
Now to the last part in this chapter. Energy. We are currently trying to pornify the energy industry. To make abundant clean energy at low costs. This is something that is impossible. Because of the continuous increase in consumption we need more and more resources and more and more energy to turn these resources into something useful. We have arrived at a point where replacing the complete global energy system with renewable energy is just not feasible. But we still believe, that we can do it, keep consuming more resources and energy while at the same time turning everything clean. Not doable.
Don’t get me wrong, it is absolutely doable to have a world that runs on clean energy but it is not this one. We need to stop to consume unnecessary stuff. We need to shrink the systems that run our world so we can control them again.
The quick answer, as always, is capitalism. Companies need to grow, all the time. In order to achieve that they have to lower costs, increase profits or sell more. And selling more is what they do. They use propaganda to influence us to buy their new products. They build products that have planned obsolescence so they can predict when the consumer is coming back to buy a new one. But not just that. They also sell us more in general.
Just think about how many “smart” devices a single person owns these days, at least one smartphone, computer maybe a tablet.
The smartphone is often hailed as creating a world that uses less resources because back in the day you had one device for a single use case. Today you have one device to do it all. The prerequisite here is that having all the functions in one device makes more sense. Having a dedicated machine for every single task had its benefits, because you only bought what you needed and you considered the purchase beforehand. Today you can be a musician and a photographer at the same time while always being up to date on what is happening in the world. We can have all the functions and pay for them. Having all these functions allows to add smart accessories to our devices that we in turn need to buy and pay for as well.
We also have to recognize that we live in a global world that is dependent on every part of the system working like clock work. These systems are so big that they cannot change. And a system that relies on growing every year and giving you more and more access to all things needs to keep growing. Here we run into trouble, because even well meaning governments can’t protect you from a global system that is larger then themselves.
Corporations use their global power to influence laws and legislation to create rules to keep everyone out but them. They build barriers to entry so big that only a few can control it all. This has happened in the last few decades through ruthless consolidation and monopolization. We have reached a point where the drivers of pornification can be counted on one hand because there are so few. They are big, in fact so big that if they stop only for a brief moment they will die.
This has led to accelerated growth and the sterilization of products, media, entertainment and politics. Everything has rules and is planned. Everything needs to appeal to a mass market audience to be viable and in order to have a low risk.
The problem is that human beings are individuals and the more we only get served the unified paste that is modern production the more we dislike it.
With the unprecedented growth of these mega corporations and the capitalistic system that keeps them alive, their arrogance has grown as well. Which makes sense if you run a company that has more revenue than most of the countries on this planet. So even industrial pornification is a thing. Not just the consumer facing side but internally, new fancy headquarters and extremely expensive real estate all while exploiting their workforce and not paying taxes is very common.
And last but not least we can’t just blame corporations 100%, we have to blame ourselves as well, at least a tiny bit. Every person can make informed decisions every day and reduce waste, consumption and stop their own pornification. It is extremely hard because it is all driven by society and the big influencers of it, the corporations, but it is a start.
As always we look at the two areas that can create change, the individual and the group. For an individual it is mostly the changes she can make in her own life while the group can go after the ones that cause the big problems in the first place.
What can I do as an individual? These tips will work differently for everyone but are the things that I have tried to implement more in my life, more or less successful.
If you have any other or better ideas feel free to share them in the comments.
When it comes to essential consumption like food, as described in Chapter 2 try the following:
While eating, try to be more mindful. Meaning, don’t eat in front of a TV, computer or phone. Have dinner with friends and family or at least without any devices. Just eat for the sake of eating. Look at your portion size and ask yourself am I already full? Do I want to keep going? In the beginning it is hard but you don’t have to do it all the time. Just try to improve over time. When it comes to the quality of food, try to buy healthier. Whole grains, a lot of vegetables, a lot of fruit, a lot of nuts and seed. Limited amounts of dairy and chicken. Almost no beef. But this is up to everyone themselves. The less processed and more natural the better. Easy rule of thumb. When it comes to beverages, drink water, or tea or coffee. Everything else was engineered to make you addicted. When going out shopping for shelter, a house or an apartment, ask yourself do I really need all this space? Because people in the western world tend to have more space than they know what to do with. Just be mindful about it. Because all this needs to be cooled and heated as well.
Alright, now what do we do when it comes to Chapter 3, all the stuff we don’t really need? I am not asking you to not consume anything anymore. Remember change happens in small steps. Pornification is only the unlimited consumption of these things.
When buying a car, buy a small one. A used one. It is much cheaper and fulfills its purpose of getting you from A to B. Of course it does not have bragging rights. But you don’t need it. If you live in a city consider not owning a car at all. Use public transport. The ultimate climate saver. Think about if you really need the new phone, or if upgrading every five to ten years is enough. Again there are no bragging rights. Or try buying a used one. When it comes to media consumption, earn it. There is nothing as bad as reward without effort. Do your work, work on your hobbies or projects. If all is done sure everyone has earned an hour of Netflix or YouTube. And sometimes going on a night long binge can’t be helped, but not all the time. In general, when it comes to accounts and stuff you own, try to own less, try to use less. Do you really need five subscription services? Should you really need a thing or want a thing, try to find it used somewhere online or locally. And maybe try buying an older version. It saves you money and teaches you more about your real needs.
The goal here is to free you from the constant need to consume and to wrangle back time you can have for yourself. If you start feeling really miserable because you cut down everything, try to go easier.
Now let’s talk about the big things. Things we can only do as a group, as a society, as people who all have similar needs and wants and don’t want to be subjected to the limitless consumption spiral.
Here I only have a few tips because it is really really hard. Sorry.
Allow for more diversity, pornification by nature only allows for a few things that are sterile and have mass market appeal. Allow more random and crazy things in your community. Ban public advertising. Ads can be online sure, but the removal of all advertising that we are subjected to in our cities should be removed. We pay taxes, no need to shove them down our throats. Some cities like Sao Paulo have already done it. Limiting the power of corporations. By outlawing lobbying and electing politicians that will enact stricter rules on these juggernauts. Remove the biggest symbols of pornification. The things that cannot be used remotely for anything useful have to go. Get rid of SUVs, of giant unhealthy meals sizes, of hyper engineered foods that make profit and make you sick. Go out and build communities, join a club, meet friends and family. Talk to people and get them on your side.
All these changes could lead us to people that are much happier, more productive in their own passions and a general improvement in our society’s health. It is hard and it will take a long time, but still the best moment to start is now.
Also one last tip, every time I sit down and start to excessively consume something I ask myself, are the people who made this product or movie doing the same? Because I don’t think so, they rather create instead of consume.