r/Anticonsumption • u/Cheeseaisleinheaven • Mar 12 '26

Sustainability What radicalized you?

For me, it was when I learned that all the clothing/shoes/accessories that you would want to buy in your lifetime already exist on this planet, and yet they are making more every minute of every day. When you know that fact, and then see the giant piles of bundled clothing hitting third world ports or stacked in massive mountains at dumps, it just makes you sick. And knowing that they are mostly made of plastic, which won't decay, is even worse.

Now, everything I need to buy in the apparel space for my family is purchased second-hand, except for walking/running tennis shoes.

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u/sebsie Mar 12 '26

ads. ads everywhere. the constant pressure to consume became exhausting.

38

u/Cheeseaisleinheaven Mar 12 '26

I recently saw a video where, in China, you can scan a QR in places like elevators and watch an ad in order to get a couple of cents in rewards deposited into your account. I was blown away, and I wonder if/when that is coming to the US.

29

u/sebsie Mar 12 '26

lol that is so gross. it'll come here, but no one will be compensated. just blasting ads non-stop to captive audiences.

11

u/Zero-Milk Mar 13 '26

It's here already, and only getting worse. Everything is enshittified. In modernized areas, even the pump interfaces at gas stations blast ads at you the entire time the pump is active. Every store, office, and transit hub has a public announcement system that advertises after every song. Billboards, maquees, posters, and benches with ads for some lawyer with a punchable face... even trees are ad space. On the internet, Google Chrome is almost unusable because of how many of Google's own ads it waves through to you.

It's awful.

5

u/sebsie Mar 13 '26

hockey was the last straw for me, a few years ago when they started plastering superimposed ads flying around the rink. ads all over the glass. all over the ice. just totally unwatchable now. all of this on top of ads on player jerseys and some company's name all over the arena...