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A New Kind of Conspicuous Consumption
- kelukelugames 11y agoA few years ago when being a foodie was all the rage, my friends would upload tons of pictures of exquisite meals from expensive restaurants. It inspired me to create a food blog on facebook. Every week I would upload something tacky and anti-yuppy. My posts included Choco Tacos, Wendy's hamburgers, and cups of ramen. Now I'm thinking of posting my experiences at the grocery story, Home Depot, etc.
- cpwright 11y agoI've found that my Facebook feed has more pictures of home-made food that isn't necessarily terribly expensive; but there is often some social signaling involved (organic, CSA, vegetarian, etc.). Basically any meal that rejects processed food is hip.
- pbiggar 11y agoYou may think you're doing the opposite of what they're doing, but actually you're doing the same thing. Conspicuous nonconsumption [0], as I call it, is all the rage in SF and among engineers. That's why everyone wears hoodies and tshirts: to show that they're different from MBAs and the suits and the bankers. But that's just another way to show your status: you are the member of an exclusive club that doesn't need suits to have high status. And so with your blog. You're identifying as part of a group that's too good for status symbols. You're explicitly saying "I'm not like you" and implicitly saying "I'm better than you because I don't need whatever things you find valuable". You're showing off your non-consumption for high status, in exactly the same way that they're showing off their consumption for high status. At the end of the day, you're both just showing off for high status! [1] [0] See also "stealth wealth" [1] No judgement here, btw: in tech, I think we all do this, me included.
- 7Figures2Commas 11y agoHoodies and t-shirts?! That's so 2012. What part of San Francisco are you in? All the cool startups in SoMa are enforcing a strict lumbersexual dress code these days.
- amirnathoo 11y agoThis comment is bleeding edge: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com%20lumbersexual https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com%...
- nether 11y agohttp://imgur.com/ZUyBZMt http://imgur.com/ZUyBZMt
- 7Figures2Commas 11y agoWhere's Waldo?
- andyidsinga 11y agosomebody sent me a post about the lumbersexual thing ( I think it was this one : http://www.thebolditalic.com/articles/6235-the-lumbersexual-is-here-to-chop-down-metrosexuals http://www.thebolditalic.com/articles/6235-the-lumbersexual-... ). Sort of bugs me that some basic clothing that's good for outdoors and daily life in the northwest gets co-opted into a fashion thing
- pndmnm 11y agoSigh. I grew up on the Olympic Peninsula (far western Washington) and this is basically my whole wardrobe. Moved to the bay area over the summer and now I feel gross wearing it. Hopefully fashion moves on soon and I can wear the clothes I have and like in peace.
- 7Figures2Commas 11y agoDon't worry. In another year or so, everybody will shave their beards and trade in their plaid shirts and blue Wrangers so that they can revolutionize fashion by disrupting some other group's wardrobe. In the meantime, you should consider setting up shop as a recruiter. You could probably place your Washington friends in jobs at startups here fairly easily. If they can memorize a few words/acronyms (Angular, MVVM, etc.) and are willing to show up to the interview with an axe for good measure, you'll be cashing checks in no time.
- dismal2 11y agoI dunno, some people are just slobs/lazy
- lars512 11y agoConspicuous non-consumption and conspicuous consumption are both playing the status game, for sure. But non-consumption is surely an environmentally better way to play it. Perhaps if conspicuous philanthropy found its way down to everyday people, that would be a nice addition too.
- sukilot 11y agoYou are positing an extreme cultural relativism. There is a huge difference between status plays that are very expensive and exclusive and resource-intensive, and status plays that are accesible to anyone who chooses not to be a wasteful exclusive jerk. Compare Burners who fly a helicopter into camp, vs people who go for a hike in the city park.
- hacknat 11y agoThat was the most amount of words I've ever seen anyone use to call someone else a hipster.
- O____________O 11y agoThat's why everyone wears hoodies and tshirts: to show that they're different from MBAs and the suits and the bankers. That's a really weird conclusion to come to. I wear hoodies and tee shirts because 1) my job doesn't require more, 2) my hoodie and tee are comfortable and easily adaptable to changing temperature, and 3) clothing shopping is a chore, an extreme annoyance. Well-fitting "slob" clothing looks better than poorly-fitting mid-range "nice" clothing, particularly when one doesn't fit the body type of the target audience for the latter.
- marincounty 11y agoI really glad some of you in Tech started a trend to kill the Tie. I never saw the need for a tie. Plus, I honestly never found a tie that felt mildly comfortable. I graduated college in the late 80's, and the thought of wearing a tie was always on my mind. It has no function, other than conformity. A girdle at least has a purpose--a bad purpose, but at east there's some logic behind it? My father felt the same way. Plus, it seems like every time I felt taken advantage of in business, the guy was wearing a tie?
- anigbrowl 11y agoIt's a counter-intuitive argument, but an extremely astute one. Consider: Many people would rather not wear an ill-fitting 'nice' outfit, or may not have the sartorial education to do so, but feel obliged to do so as a condition of their employment. You won't be able to get a job as a bank clerk if you show up dressed in a hoodie and jeans, for example; you need to show up in a shirt and tie (if you're a guy) even it's the cheapest item that you could find at Men's Wearhouse and you don't look very good in it. 'Well-fitting slob clothing' not only signals that you're not subject to some sort of onerous dress code imposed by your employer (within reason), but also that you can afford to spend money on what most people could consider leisurewear. Further, while you may genuinely not be interested in clothes, picking them out in the morning, looking at other peoples', or shopping for them - and while I can sympathize with your disinterest - that very indifference is itself a mark of affluence. Most people work hard at that stuff because they feel obliged to create a certain image to get employed, get laid, and maintain their self-respect. If they don't care about clothes and they choose not to spend money on them, and they don't happen to put out certain other socioeconomic signals, then they will just be dismissed as scruffy bums.
- WalterBright 11y agoReminds me of those 70's Dr Pepper ads: "Join the non-conformists!"
- deciplex 11y agoYou logic can be applied to anything: any behavior meant to be observed by others would become an attempt to show off status. It has little explanatory power.
- kelukelugames 11y agoi think im doing comedy. :) i like choco tacos but wendys and ramen cups are pretty tereible.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- vernie 11y agoThat's pretty tite.
- dreamfactory2 11y agoof course food pics/blogging are a facet of experientialism
- lotharbot 11y agoyears ago a friend of mine posted a forum thread about where he went for lunch, complete with macro-pictures of his drink. My response was to photograph my grocery trip, complete with commentary about how to select a frozen chicken, how I was better at pushing my grocery cart than someone else, and how nice it was to check out using a credit card. I was surprised by how well received my satire was.
- tambourine_man 11y agoI feel like an alien reading an article like this. The idea of "showing off" with vacations, weekend events or even professional accomplishments seems preposterous to me. How is this socially acceptable is beyond my comprehension. Likewise, I'm probably only interested in knowing where 10 or so people spent their vacation, and even then, only when the narrative is directed at me or a small number of friends. I can't understand how a public parade of general info and photos can be anything other than utterly shallow and boring. Needless to say, I don't get Facebook.
- joe_the_user 11y agoI feel alien reading this too and I have ~500 friends on Facebook. I don't see people doing anything like this. Maybe I'm selective but really next-to no friends share their consumption. I think the share-your-sunsets-and-dives-into-waterfalls is the movie version of Facebook. We wind up sharing cats, snark and sad moments.
- dilap 11y agocurious: how old are you? location? friend's locations? i'm 33, sf now oregon raised, and i'd say in general i see less fb usage by my friends, but those that still do use it, it's almost all positive, brag-ish sharing. people i know with kids, especially, it seems almost impossible to imagine sharing 'cats, snark, and sad moments'.
- eddy_chan 11y agoI feel this, 32M with kids. FB usage by actual friends that I cared about fell to zero and my feed was full of shallow experiential grandstanding. Deleted my FB account but copped a hiding from the silent majority for being 'hard to get in touch with' and feel a bit guilty about this but overall life is better without FB or any other form of social media. True experientialism is being there in the moment, not standing outside carefully curating the moment for others to gawk at. Edit: *experientialism not experimentalism
- joe_the_user 11y ago
- djrobstep 11y agoThis article is consistent with my anecdotal experience, where I've noticed high importance placed on travel as a class credential. I grew up in a household that was low income enough that we never vacationed far from home. Now that I'm a white collar software developer on a solid middle class income mixing with middle class folks, mentioning that I've hardly traveled out of the country generates reactions of surprise, to the extent that I often feel I have to explain myself and my lack of overseas travel.
- O____________O 11y agoNow that I'm a white collar software developer on a solid middle class income mixing with middle class folks Are you in the Bay Area? The Bay Area is obsessed with travel. Not that there's anything wrong with that, since I do feel that travel is great, but many in the Bay Area have no idea what it's like to come from a background where it's not even considered a possibility. When I lived and worked in Arizona, the only "travel" anyone was interested in were weekend trips to Mexico, or maybe visiting an iconic American city (e.g. SF). If I'd brought up Thailand, they wouldn't even have known enough to make ladyboy jokes.
- metaphorical 11y ago"There be three degrees of this hiding and veiling of a man’s self. The first, closeness, reservation, and secrecy; when a man leaveth himself without observation, or without hold to be taken, what he is. The second, dissimulation, in the negative; when a man lets fall signs and arguments, that he is not, that he is. And the third, simulation, in the affirmative; when a man industriously and expressly feigns and pretends to be, that he is not." -- Francis Bacon
- Animats 11y agoRemember that on Facebook, "sharing" is spamming. If you're getting unwanted "sharing" from "close friends", demote them to "friends" to stop that.
- mc32 11y agoThis is one thing I don't get. Why do some people like to pretend to be anti-consumption while engaged in an economy based on consumption? Let's put it this way, if all the people, no matter what their income, just took their income, spent it on the basics and then saved or invested the remainder, we'd all pretty much end up poorer. No titans of industry (who would buy consumer goods in a if consumption was avoided), few service workers, few skilled jobs, fewer blue collar jobs. Mostly we'd have government employees and people in essential services (farmers, physicians, educators, etc). No work at Starbucks, or Amazon, or Google or Tesla. I mean, who would need to buy anything beside the basics from Amazon, and since commerce would be de-emphasized, no need for advertising (adwords) on google. I guess we could live pretty retro lives, living like we were all Amish or similar, but is that what would be best? Certainly disposable consumerism is arguably bad, but what if we all decided quality was paramount and instead of buying ten cheap things, we bought one expensive but durable thing costing the same as the ten cheap things? Anyway, our economic system, neo-liberal capitalism, (and others as well) depend on consumption, frugal wealthy people would impact the economy negatively. Look, I dislike Hollywood (it's cheap, base, and unimaginative, rarely is there "Art") for various reasons, but, at the same time, I understand that overpaid actors mean that lots of ancillary jobs in Hollywood exist due to their opulent, unfrugal, spednthrift lifestyles.
- sukilot 11y agoThe difference is whether consumption is relative equal across society, or is the masses serving elites, and if we are paying for each others good graces, or to burn polluting energy sources. A dollar spent paying someone to burn the plastic remains of your frappucino and then treat your diabetes, or a dollar spent on a blood diamond or chocolate farmed by a slave child, could be spent paying someone to pick up litter, or cure genetic disease, or teach you how to play music. Not all consumption is equally valuable.
- mc32 11y agoYes, of course things could be improved upon. What happens is people say "overconsumption" as if not consuming would somehow solve things. It would not. All things being equal, it would make things worse (except perhaps improve ecology, but it's debatable, since we might miss develping some superior technologies). Just one example. Everyone cooked at home. No restaurants. No cooks, chefs, sole proprietors, severs, etc. in the restaurant industry. There would be no restaurant industry. We could go on. Extending this, "getting rid of conspicuous consumption" might hide things, which, I understand, it makes us feel better, but solves nothing by itself.
- mistermann 11y agoAm I the only one that likes when people post their travel pictures on Facebook? I find it interesting and like to see all the beautiful places that I can't go to now that I'm married.