“That Which Consumes Your Mind Controls Your Life.”
There is nothing wrong with wasting money, but we often waste money mindlessly on unnecessary shit . Our brains can be easily made to consume, and as finance writer Keith Flanders reminds us, “What your mind consumes controls your life.” And your finances.
In his blog post, Blonde on a Budget, Flanders explains the concept of digital flow. Media researcher Raymond Williams coined a term that basically explains how an audience is captured and held while watching a series of programs or channels. HGTV is a great example of this. You turn on the Property Brothers series, and between home decor ads and teasers of other home shows, you’re stuck in “home improvement” mode and ready to consume whatever HGTV has to offer.
Flanders explains how, over time, this “flow” turns you into a weak, thoughtless consumer :
Streaming not only prevents you from changing channels, resulting in increased TV network ad revenue, it also exposes you to re-advertisements for products that are specifically chosen to show them to someone interested in a show on the same network. While most of us don’t go out and buy something the moment we see it on TV, repeating it over and over again instills in our minds the seeds we need. Social networks do the same, only they make these elements available to us with one click. And given that we now spend more time looking at our phones than watching TV , it’s time to pay attention to how this affects our lives (and finances).
In other words, over time we become obsessed with consumption without even realizing it. This happens all the time. So how do you deal with this? We’ve given you some tips on how to program your mind to stop mindlessly buying things you don’t need . We also suggested starting each day as a producer rather than a consumer . And Flanders discusses his own tips at the link below.
“That which consumes your mind controls your life” | Blonde on a budget
Photo by Pixel Addict.