Innovating consumption thinking

Hey everyone,

Here is one more interesting reflection on this interesting video about collaborative consumption. Hope you like it, and think about it!




Linking back to some of the key ideas of this blog, and to the main theme of innovation, I found this video very enlightening. In a time of crisis and social networking, when the Y generation have taken over the world of technology, it is worthy thinking of consumption.

It is very intriguing to notice that once upon a time consumption was pretty much related to what we consume, as suggested by Rachel Bostman in the video. Even more shocking is to notice that it is true, if we think of a time where we consumed because we used to give value to the product, to the material, to the fabric, to the colours. In the capitalist world, consumption has gone far away from the idea of what we consume to why we consume and how we consume. I suppose that there are different types of consumption: the ones who consume because they want to, is a desire (present in all other kinds of consumerism); a minority, I would say, consume because they are used to it; and the other half of people today consume just to show off.

The fact that you have a Porsche, a Mercedes Benz or a Ferrari, the fact that you wear Armani, Gucci or Lacoste or that a woman has a Prada bag, certainly makes a lot of impression and make others think that you are rich. However, in the connected world, in the digital era the feeling must change, the perception must be focused on how we consume. Amazon and eBay has made the world of the Internet a millions business of consumption and sharing as put forward in this video.

Regardless of why you consume, I would say that the desire element is always present on the top of you head, only satisfied when you purchase that brand or product. Bringing it down to the world of the Internet and collaborative consumption, as mentioned throughout the video, novel ways of bringing that perception out of the desire are becoming popular. In the digital era where everything is related to the “I” theme, such as iPod, iPhone, iPad, the idea of sharing becomes of interest and needs to be further explored. The social media revolution I mentioned in an early publication on this blog comes back in the film, when Bostman explains what she believes are the four steps of that revolution, which for the purpose of her explanation she names Digital sharing evolution.

When the digital natives group moved from early forms of technology such as email, to Facebook and then the sharing of music and other interesting contents embedded within it, we then became interested to know more, to go further and explore other ways of sharing that might push forward the barrier of technologies and its features. The idea here is not just to be different and innovate, but to return to traditional forms of contact, as treated in the clip, but I would say that is not only because of we returned to that old school technique of sharing, but because we seek something new, we seek authenticity.

We are reaching a time in society’s attitude and mood when we are in a way becoming plastics, inanimate, mechanized as the Fordist industrial world was centuries ago. But on the other hands, the new generation are aware of this and are desperately hunting for new forms of being, new desires, authentic thinking. That authenticity then may be found in the nature of the past, in the nature of meeting the farmer who made the fresh milk, who produced the cheese and bread we are going to buy. The connection between digital and real then becomes necessary, becomes a need, not only that desire.

In the world of technology when everything is about self reflecting and turning to the inner personnel, it is just the correct time to wake up and say “there is also a world outside”. Yes, there is room for real connection, for authentic conversation rather than just chat with friends on Facebook and sharing content. It is good and necessary to have the technology, but it is also possible to link, the real and unreal, the authentic and the plastic.

Websites like eBay, amazon and others are just reinforcing some kind of consumption that we do not want anymore, the idea of a plastic and cold consumption where we do not touch things, we do not feel, we do not smell, human senses are being disposed off. In a world of global recession and global warming, we need a global understanding of how to build authentic lines of trust and relationships with goods and people, with environmental concern and health, to then be able to buy something because we capture the real need to it, the real objectification and necessity; the real self and the real desire.

In conclusion, the redefining of more, put by Bostman, is the major proposal here, is something that will certainly change the future by connecting past generations with future generations, the hard copies with digital copies to finally making together a real copy digitally made by social relations. The real future should indeed be a collaborative consumption future, where we think about how we can contribute to this world (remembering here the environmental and sustainability posts I recently did), to the society, not just thinking of consumption as a way to show off our material desire for goods, but to really care of what is important to consume, realize that together we can do, with the aid of digital, a brighter future.

That is it for today folks, sorry for the deep and long analyze here, but I just got a bit a excited about the topic. Hope you enjoyed and see you next time!