Wednesday, February 19, 2003

I love Ebay, but the problem is that there are so many things on sale--available in bulk, at steep discounts, across country borders, etc. I start clicking on things without even realizing it.

"Look! A used couch! I have three, but this one's so cheap!"

"Hey! Two computers! I only need one, but this guy's giving me a discount!"

click! ...

and my fate is sealed.

Somewhere down the road, shopping addiction is going to get it's proper place in the headlines. We buy so much, and not only is most of it stuff we don't need, but some of it is stuff we don't even want. Material possessions have always been thought of as a status symbol, but sometimes it seems like mere material accumulation acts as a for of acute theraputic relief.

Sometimes I honestly feel better about things when I buy something. The feeling goes away after a while, but it's the act of buying, rather than the item itself that was bought, that brings the relief. With online purchasing, you wait days until you get the item you bought. This can either prolong the good feeling of just having bought something, strengthened by the delightful anticipation of getting what you bought, or this can bring a new sense of impatient misery as you wait for the damn package to hit your front porch. Or, as in my case, it can do both at the same time.

Some eastern philosophies state that suffering stems from the gap between what you desire and what reality provides you. Since you can't change the reality, simply get rid of your desires and your suffering will stop. The problem with places like Ebay is that it infuses in me new desires I never even new I had.