Tsunami, 51 & 52. Making a Haul.

Yesterday, I learned of yet another type of influencer on the web. One of my students was telling me how she yet had to film the unpacking of a box of clothes she had ordered, so as to put her own haul video on TikTok. Her pronunciation at first made me think she was going to howl, which is how she was pronouncing the word. But then she wrote it down for me.

I understood the concept; to make a haul from the stores is buying cheaply and largely. She then went on to show me a few samples. All of them featured women as fat as a twig, either opening boxes ordered online, or pulling clothes out of a shopping bag. All of them were promoting one store or another. 

I later checked and found them on Instagram, as well. I assume they're all over the place. Now, I know that young people like to change their wardrobe often because they get tired of the same clothes, and don't want to be caught dead wearing last year's fashions. And here come these other, well-off young people and encourage them to really shop till they drop and empty their wallets, just to compete online, where nothing is for real.

I am no minimalist. I can't strip my house and my belongings to the bare basics; it's not in my nature. But I have stopped and thought about what I need before buying. Aside from having a mostly empty wallet, where each euro has a name on it that isn't mine, it also has to do with avoiding waste and regret. I have regretted buying some things. I don't like feeling like that. 

Whose fault is it that these young people buy and buy? The so-called influencers aren't the problem. The problem is the rest of us. It is normal to shop until you drop. It's normal to buy five different sweaters even though there are another five in the wardrobe that still have a couple of seasons in them. It's normal to buy new clothes every weekend, and then pay lip service to those who point out that excessive consumption brings about the demise of the earth a little bit closer. 

These young people I know will change, probably. Most of them will become conscious that they can't sustain the habit of making a haul every couple of weeks, or even every month, even at a cheapish store, like H&M or Primark. But, when they do, they will have consumed, in clothes and the energy needed to produce them, five lifetimes. Money moves everything, so binge buying won't stop as long as corporations want us to buy. But we can try to slow down every time we reach for our wallets or hit the buy button. Do we really need this?

Life continues.