Shadowing Practice: consumerism makes us boring and it shows - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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The longer I live and the more I learn, the more I am convinced that consumerism has taken and continues to take all that is good from us.
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Because I personally believe that consumerism has made us bored, it makes us more lonely, and all just to make a few rich dudes at the
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top richer at the cost of filling our landfills with stuff that we definitely didn't need, and most of the time do not even want.
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So today I wanted to talk about how I believe consumerism as a society.
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Studies show that 8 in 10 Gen Zers say they felt lonely in the past year, and 1 in 3 adults report chronic loneliness, and 2 thirds of people at ages 18 to 34 say
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stress makes it hard for them to even focus day to day.
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To me, this makes it very obvious that our culture is not working with our human physiology, with what our brains and our bodies were meant to do.
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And the through line of all these things to me about our culture is that we worship consumerism make us less lonely,
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will make us more happy, will make us cooler.
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And at the end of the day, it does the complete opposite.
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I spend most of my time talking about how consumerism is
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linked to nearly every single environmental problem you have ever heard about.
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You name it, and it's likely connected to consumerism for unnecessary products, okay?
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There's a level of consumerism that is needed or makes our lives easier and better.
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It's the unnecessary, never -ending hamster wheel of thinking that consume a lot more like in the U .S.
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Aside from this hamster wheel just constantly feeding into our landfills, in order to create all of those products, things have to be extracted from our planet.
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And we live on a finite planet with finite resources.
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So continuing to extract those resources not only harms our ability to provide for future generations,
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but it also means that whoever lives in those communities where those resources are being extracted are being exploited. and landfill anyway.
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And those things are what contribute to all the environmental problems like deforestation, climate change, air pollution, water pollution, the list goes on.
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The average American household has 300 ,000 items in it.
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And yet we are as lonely as we've ever been.
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We are as bored as we've ever been.
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And mental health diagnoses are on the rise.
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And we've been sold this idea that if we just buy the right thing, it will fix all of our problems.
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And there's so much people telling you that if you just buy this one more thing that they swear is life -changing,
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your life can be just as good too.
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And do you notice that that same thing keeps happening day after day after day?
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And there's plenty of that on the internet.
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So I hope that my channel can serve as the place that tells you the opposite of that.
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The place that tells you that's not going to happen.
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You can come here once a week, every Wednesday.
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If you didn't already know that, maybe hit the subscribe button, turn notifications on, but you can come here every Wednesday to
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It's going to be something that you can buy once and that's that.
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And most of the time, I'll be telling you that you don't need anything at all.
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In the face of our current economy, it is more important to me now than ever else in my adult life to budget
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and save as much money as possible, which is why I'm so excited that the sponsor of today's video can help us do that.
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of my budget and saving money.
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It brought up so many subscriptions that I didn't even know I had
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because I have so many different ones for my job.
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And it was unbelievable how many times you don't even know, but you've signed up for a subscription and sometimes it only comes out once a year, sneaky little guys.
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But I was able to cancel them with just a couple taps without having to look up all my passwords
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and all those sort of things.
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They make it much easier than hunting down who even is charging the subscription and then emailing customer service.
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Rocket Money has helped its you use all of the app's premium features, and they've also helped customers save over $500 million in canceled subscriptions.
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Since the beginning of the year, I have been doing weekly budget meetings with my partner, and Rocket Money's app actually has great budgeting tools that you can test out as well.
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It can give me reminders before my bills hit and or when my bank account is getting low.
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You can go to rocketmoney .com slash shall be armed to try it for free and unlock
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experience with this of feeling like consumerism is the answer to all of my problems
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and I've gone through phases in my life where I have to reckon with
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that I think it's a combination of our culture
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and also my personality or my brain the way it seeks dopamine is like
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so susceptible to consumerism
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and I grew up in a house where consumerism was our
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pastime was the hobby like on a Friday evening what am
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I doing I'm going to the mall on the weekend what
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am I doing we're going to Kohl's I am the daughter of a Kohl's mom if you know what that means
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you know.
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Jenna, we're going into the coals.
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But I've always been a creative person
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and I think back to my formative years and that's so obvious to me because I was in love with taking photos.
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When Vine came out, oh my god, it was everything to me.
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In high school, I was student council president
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and I was also the person who always had the eye for creativity when we were doing something.
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I also was the social president of my drill team, which is like literally just meant to be creative and keep people engaged.
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Looking at it now, the creativity, the photos, the videos, and environmentalism is literally how I ended up with this being my job.
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But I look back at all those times and I realized that even though I had this drive to be creative, I was funneling that into always buying new clothes.
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And that's what I was modeled in my home.
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And I think that's what we're modeled a lot in our society.
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So think about today, what you're like, maybe five closest people to what are their hobbies, like really think do people around you have them.
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And I think that or like maybe they have one thing that they do sometimes.
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But if you think about how often those people around you are buying things from like Amazon
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or TikTok shop or anytime an event comes up, they are ready to go and buy something new.
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I feel like that is really common and maybe it's not for you, but obviously statistics say that that is how the average American lives.
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The average American buys 72 new clothing pieces a year.
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And when you just stop and think about that
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and you think about how much time it must consume to find those pieces and to buy those pieces, and to then style them and organize your closet,
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the time it takes just to manage buying that many new things every single year is a hobby, is a pastime in and of itself.
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And I think that post -World War II, when fast fashion was really ramping up and consumerism was seen as the pinnacle of patriotism,
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if we really think about how after 9 -11, the thing that our president united the country in telling us to do was to go shopping.
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This work begins with keeping our economy growing.
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And I encourage you all to go shopping more.
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That will forever be burned into my brain is one of the things that makes me think that as a culture, we truly worship consumerism as our pinnacle.
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And if you really start to think about who we think is successful in the world
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and what is aspirational in our culture, it's all connected to having money, success.
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and what you can buy the reason i say all
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that is because i do think that in the last 50 years
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or so the united states has truly given up any form of creativity of self -expression
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and it's all funneled into consumerism now
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so for example think about what community spaces or third spaces
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or what type of events someone would have been doing
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when they were younger if they were like our parents age
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or even our grandparents age crafting and making your own stuff was so normal was so something
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like only one person i know is able to sew
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or mend or fix their own clothes
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or one person over here is really into quilting that was normal
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and i personally think that now that's why we call these things granny hobbies is
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because our grandmas it was so normal for their generation
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and throughout time from there those hobbies began to die out
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and be traded in for consumerism crafting and diy was something
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that you would do with your community for your neighbors or for your family or for your a community focused activity.
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And we call things like gardening grandma hobbies because it was a normal part of life back then.
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And nowadays gardening is something that people are doing, but I feel it's become another form of consumerism where there's just so many different things that you can buy for it.
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And gardening is a great example of this trap that I feel like exists when people try to get into hobbies, is that the hobby becomes more about what you need to buy to do the hobby than the actual hobby itself.
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And by the time you get through all of the research and
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the things that you need for
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that thing a lot of times those materials just sit in someone's corner in their house
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and or i think probably parts of this is also
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because people used to learn from people
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that they knew friends family neighbors like i said that's how
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you would get into these different things especially things like gardening
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right it can be really hard to learn how to do
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that thing without having someone there to teach you and we're
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so disconnected from our neighbors
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that a lot of people don't have the ability to learn
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from their neighbor i personally first like stuff i learned how to sew was
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because of my neighbor and i'm so grateful for her
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and grateful for the community that i have built here
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but not everybody has that anymore because our culture has changed
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so much to romanticize being able to do things by yourself
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and to romanticize canceling plans and not knowing your neighbors and
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and those sort of things and especially in a post -2020 world
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if you think about what fitness even used to look like because my hobbies are the
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hobbies are very much fitness activity focused.
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And you have to think about pre 2020, like fitness activities were like you would go play sports with people in real life,
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you would go to the gym where you might see the same person over
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and over and you might make a friend fitness classes, etc. And in 2020, understandably, a lot of things started to shift to at home machines.
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I mean, that shift was already happening, I think a lot because of the disconnect between community versus individualism,
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But I think post 2020, the walking pads and the at -home machines have become
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so much more normalized to where fitness is now something
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that you're not engaging anybody in and everybody has to buy their own.
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When like the whole point of a gym is
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that you can share with your community because you don't use a treadmill all day and not everybody needs to own one.
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But of course, convincing people
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that doing it at home is like a better thing to do keeps us individualistic and also keeps us consuming.
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community -minded society that is interested and has time and ability and energy to do things with their time other than shopping.
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But marketing and manipulation of our minds over time
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and the culture shift makes it to where you can do it by yourself.
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And online shopping specifically makes it to where you can do it from your home.
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To me, it's very obvious that consumerism has made us lonely and also boring because I think that having the hobbies, not just the ones we've talked about,
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They give you something to talk about and show off
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that you are constantly improving on that you are constantly working towards and expressing yourself through those hobbies.
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And when we no longer have that, and instead we just have consumerism, then we kind of are really becoming, I don't want to say drones, but like very similar, right?
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Because when consumerism is how we're all expressing ourselves, when consumerism is the thing that we're doing and trends and marketing are at the forefront of that,
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then we all kind of are just buying the same polyester plaster plastic clothing.
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The trends are coming and going faster than we even know what to do with, and people are buying them because they're cool, not to express themselves.
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Home decor has different trends, and fashion obviously has different trends, and TikTok shop will follow you to the depths of the earth to try to convince you
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that you need to buy that thing that you happen to click on.
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Don't get me started on that.
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I say all that to say
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if we're all seeing the same stuff on social media
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and then we're all buying the same stuff that we've seen on social media,
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we're really we're not really expressing ourselves and we're not really working towards something or being creative or anything.
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We are literally just in this hamster wheel of buying the next thing so that we look cool to the in crowd.
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Everyone's wearing the same sweater, but no one's talking about anything that matters to them.
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You know what I mean?
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Can we talk about like the political and economic state of the world right now?
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I think we can see this a lot with aesthetics
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that are connected to a niche or a subculture or whatever it is.
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So specifically, if we're talking about, don't know you want to be someone who dresses in the aesthetic of a granola girly right
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when i say that word a certain type of person on pinterest comes to mind
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but i think maybe because we are so lonely and individualistic
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and not existing in the world within those communities within whatever a granola community looks like then the way
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that you think that you become a granola person is by looking like them
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because your experience with what it means to be a granola girly is what it
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But typically you would become a part of that community and the aesthetic would come second.
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The aesthetic comes from existing in nature and wanting to emulate those textures
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or those colors or it is what you're seeing other people in the actual community in real life wearing.
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And then you assimilate to that type of niche, that type of culture, and you are expressing your fashion, your aesthetics, whatever with that a part of a group that you are a part of.
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But I think that there's a big part of this whole shifting from actual community
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and hobbies and interests to consumerism
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that makes it to where people just want to look like they're part of
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that or they don't understand that that aesthetic is connected to a lifestyle
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and instead they're just trying to emulate it through consumerism.
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And I think this is further backed up by the fact that studies say that spending on hobby materials,
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ever is like on the steep decline and that tells me
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that people really do want to have interesting things to do with their time
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and hobbies so they're buying the things
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because consumerism has convinced us that's how you become
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that person is by buying the stuff
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and to be clear i am not trying to blame you
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or me or honestly any individual person i think
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that this problem comes from our cultural shift that is manipulated and controlled by billionaires and marketing um
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we go further into the economic system that we live under, people are working a lot less.
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Like the output that we are expected from our jobs is continually increasing while wages stagnate.
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And so people are overworked and underpaid and overstimulated.
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And just at the end of the day, a lot of times just want to lay down and be done and zonk out on like social media,
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scrolling and online shopping is a really easy way to get a dopamine hit.
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I've talked about this so many with this, it's the easiest low effort way.
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You can do it from laying on your couch at the
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end of a day to make yourself feel better for working so hard.
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I think that you can't have this conversation really about loss of third spaces
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and loss of community and individualism and hyper consumerism without acknowledging that like where we're at in society,
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it's really hard to kind of go against the mainstream narrative or the mainstream entertainment modes,
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which is consumerism, someone hopefully, somewhere along the way, introduces you to the idea
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that you will be much happier and much more fulfilled
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if you can manage to shift away from consumerism being your whole personality,
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your whole aesthetic, your whole part of you that is interesting. by will.
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I have like an endless amount of thoughts on this topic
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and it's really hard sometimes for me to organize these thoughts nice and neatly because over time it's just become...
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We're pausing for the bird clock. Which bird is that?
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I don't know all of them yet.
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Is it the Mockingbird?
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I think it is.
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I was going to guess that, but I didn't want to be wrong.
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They make so many different sounds.
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Anyway, it is kind of hard for me to make this huge topic that I feel is so important small.
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But I hope that the overall point is getting through to you.
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That I really feel that if we don't actively make the decision to not make consumerism our entire personality, we will be bored.
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We will be lonely.
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make us less bored and make us more interesting and make our lives feel more fulfilling.
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We have to move away from consumerism being the thing that keeps us going.
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And the thing for me right now, and it changes, but right now it's sewing.
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And I have a whole series where I talk about ways that I am upcycling and sewing, and I'm kind of learning as we go together, you and I.
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So if that's something you'd be interested in, I'll leave a video right here for you to check that out.
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There is a way out of consumerism being your whole personality, and I will help you find it.
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subscribe button and remember until next time you cannot do all the good
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that the world needs but the world needs all the good that you can do Bye, guys.
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Context & Background
In the video titled "Consumerism Makes Us Boring and It Shows," the speaker explores the pervasive influence of consumerism on society. They observe how consumerism not only fuels loneliness but also impacts mental health and environmental sustainability. Through compelling statistics, the speaker emphasizes the disconnect between material possessions and genuine happiness, arguing that our culture has led us into a cycle of unnecessary consumption. This dialogue encourages viewers to reflect on their spending habits and consider the broader societal implications of consumerism.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- "Consumerism is linked to our loneliness." - This phrase can spark discussions about how material goods affect our emotional well-being.
- "We live on a finite planet with finite resources." - A statement that can help frame conversations about sustainability and careful consumption.
- "Chronic loneliness is a serious issue." - This phrase highlights the growing concern surrounding mental health, especially among younger generations.
- "Budget and save as much money as possible." - A useful expression for discussing financial responsibility and planning.
- "You don’t need anything at all." - This phrase encourages a minimalist perspective, perfect for dialogues about decluttering and lifestyle choices.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively learn English with YouTube and improve your speaking skills, consider following this structured shadowing approach based on the video:
- Watch the Video Once: Focus on understanding the overall message without worrying about comprehension of every word. Pay attention to the speaker's tone and emotion.
- Listen Actively: Play the video a second time, using a note-taking app to jot down interesting phrases or vocabulary that resonate with you.
- Pause and Repeat: Use the shadowing technique to repeat phrases immediately after the speaker. This helps in improving pronunciation and intonation. Focus on rhythm and speech flow.
- Practice with a Shadowing App: Leverage technology to facilitate shadow speech. Record yourself emulating the speaker's tone and pace, then listen for areas of improvement.
- Engage with the Content: After shadowing, discuss the video's themes with a partner or online community. This will enhance vocabulary retention and contextual understanding.
By incorporating this shadowing guide into your routine, you can significantly enhance your English pronunciation and conversational skills, allowing you to engage in meaningful discussions about topics like consumerism and its impact on society.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | have been doing |
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if that's something you'd be |
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to learn · used to look |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has taken · has made · have ever heard |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.