Minimalism - A Documentary On The Important Things

To start the new year, I found a gem on Netflix that truly grasps the idea that our reality is created for us by government, media, and especially consumerism. A well researched and directed documentary about the post modernist world that we live in regarding consumerism. The movie suggests that our choices that we make for consumer spending are manipulated for us by corporations.

The movie's premise is simple, we from an early age are taught that life is based on owning stuff. So much stuff, that we want more stuff. The first thing that came to my mind while watching this is the IPhone. Sure enough the IPhone was one of the examples of how users are controlled and manipulated to buy new phones through clever marketing. Each new phone has about a dozen improvements, and advertising and clever marketing is employed by Apple to get you to stand in line for the next IPhone.
The movie explores every aspect of consumerism in our post modern world. From birth, our decisions are impacted by media and advertising. In fact, children are saturated with consumerism. Companies spent 100 million on children's advertising in the 80s. Today they spend 17 billion. Maximum saturation to ensure kids want more stuff. Gaming systems operate on a life cycle of 2-3 years.
The movie offers solutions to remove ourselves from the reality. From smaller homes to examining our choices, we can change. We will be seen as odd or weird for downsizing. Yet, it would reshape the world we live in if change were sustaining. We fight wars for profit. A world of minimalists would reduce the need for war when you ponder the possibilities.
I could not help but wonder if minimalism has a place in our educational system. We could teach it in our health classes. Surely happiness can be impacted by these practices. Learning how the brain is hardwired to react to consumerism could help our children grow into adults that understand needs v. wants. This fight flight reaction to consumerism is why we lose sight of ourselves if not careful. Do we need all the extra stuff? Probably not.