A necessity

Last week I went to the city with my partner to buy a couple things I couldn't get at my suburban shopping mall; it was choice I was looking for and the local mall, while huge with so many shops, didn't have the variety of stores that would provide the choice I wanted. I begrudgingly went to the city and wandered about like all the other lemmings went straight to the places I knew I'd find what I was looking for, tried stuff on, bought it and left pretty quickly.

I don't really like shopping much although I have to do it now and then and browsing isn't my thing either. I'm the, straight to the place, try it, buy it, and leave, guy.

I say that and mean it but naturally there's exceptions and I did drop into the Tag Heuer watch shop to check out a watch I am interested in and mentioned in a post a couple days ago - so I'm not completely above a little browsing. Nope, I didn't buy it...yet.

The shopping expedition reconfirmed my dislike of shopping and hammered home the reasons why.

People everywhere walking slow, phone-walking, and bumping into me and stopping dead in front of me as if they're the only person on the planet, shop workers pestering me to see if I need help, (no thanks, I'll ask when I do), noise, fucken ratbag kids, assholes blowing cigarette smoke into the air, and all the other shit that goes along with humanity. I hate it. But here's the thing...I think it's an important part of being human, the interaction I mean.

Back a while people would gather at the marketplace in towns, villages and cities, some travelling many miles or for days even just to get there, and they'd catch up with gossip, the happenings, old friends and trade and barter their wares and produce with others. It was a social time and one in which more than shopping and selling was done. Of course, in the larger cities this may have happened daily as markets were no doubt more prevalent but in rural areas it might been a weekly, monthly or bi-annual thing depending on the season, area and what each location produced. I guess the point is that it was often a very social time and people would gather for a lot more than simply buying things. It was an important part of people's lives because they didn't have the ability to connect as we do now.

I wrote a little while back about hating shopping malls and how they have become as much a source of entertainment as places to shop these days, 'shopping as entertainment', although history shows that such places, markets, were exactly that as well, albeit somewhat differently. They were places for people to gather and socialise and they are still.

Humans are social meaning they tend to come together in groups which is how villages, towns and cities came into being and I think it's that need to be social which draws people to places like shopping malls and precincts - the need to be social in whatever form that takes these days. I think it's healthy, a necessity in these modern times when we can pretty much order anything we need from the comfort of our lounge room through online shopping and food delivery. I see us as very connected digitally but disconnected on a human to human level, and like our ancestors did back all those years ago at the markets and country fairs I think we could benefit from a little more physical connection.

I don't enjoy shopping and would rather not do it but I feel that doing it in person is a far more human thing to do and is better for us generally than online shopping that is increasing in popularity exponentially. Sure, it's easier, saves time and all the other excuses people make for doing it...but at what cost does a little convenience come? Less jobs, less communication and socialisation, less opportunity to experience things, interact with others and build relationships or use skills that are innate in all of us...I guess someone smarter than me could come up with a whole lot more reasons. And besides, online shopping creates more time for what? Most people don't make best use of the time they currently have so why look for more time to do nothing wit?

I wonder what your thoughts are on this topic, if you have any at all that is. Feel free to comment if you like.