According to a recent study, advertising makes us unhappy.
This was the conclusion of a recent study that included 900,000 citizens of 27 European countries from 1980 – 2011. Whoa, that’s quite a study! You can read more of the methodology in the Harvard Business Review.
The results don’t surprise me—and probably don’t surprise you either. At the heart of every advertising message is a message that we are not as happy as we could be without their product in our lives. This item will lead to a happier, easier, more convenient, or more luxurious life.
Every advertisement seeks to stir up discontent and convince us that we are not as happy as we could be. No doubt then, that there would be some correlation between levels of unhappiness and frequency of advertisements that we see. You can read more in the article linked above.
Personally, I’m interested in a different conversation. If advertisements contribute to our unhappiness, how can we avoid them? What practical steps can we take in our everyday lives to remove ourselves from their constant barrage?
At one extreme, we could remove ourselves from civilization altogether. We could find a quiet cabin in the woods or on Walden Pond and never interact with anyone else.
That life might appeal to some, but not me. I like people, I like my neighborhood, and I like being involved in society. I enjoy social gatherings, my son’s soccer games, and hosting a small group in my home on Sunday nights. I could remove myself from civilization entirely, but that is not how I want to live.
Given the fact that I (along with many of you) will continue to live in the middle of a consumerist society, what steps can we take to limit the number of advertisements that we see? And ultimately increase our happiness because of it.
Here are a few ideas:
1. Do more things that make you forget to check your phone. By this, I mean, engage in more and more activites where you cannot be reached by advertisers. Play more board games with your family, spend more time in nature, read more books, or go play catch with your son in the backyard. When we get more involved with people or adventures, we see fewer advertisements.
2. Watch less television. Television is an entire medium based on the presumption that we can be manipulated into purchasing items advertised on the screen. It is true that streaming services have changed the industry quite a bit and you may believe that you are not being subjected to advertisements anymore. But I’d argue that’s not the case. Streaming services are still selling you something… even if it’s just on more and more of their streaming service. Spending less time on social media would have the same effect as watching less television.
3. Unsubscribe from email newsletters, magazines, and junk mail lists. One of the most proactive steps you can take today to reduce the number of advertisements you see is unsubscribe from email newsletters. At the bottom of every email newsletter you receive, you will find a “Click to unsubscribe” link. At first, going through this process may seem like a daunting task and never-ending battle. But just start clicking with each new email that arrives. You will be surprised how quickly they slow down and how quickly you’re able to get ahead of them. And while you’re at it, unsubscribe from ad-filled magazines and junk mail. Here’s some advice from Harvard on how to do that.
4. Go shopping less. Shopping is an interesting activity when you think about it. We are marketed to relentlessly outside of stores in order to get us inside. Once inside, we are subjected to even more advertisements and marketing messages. Spend less time at malls and department stores and you’ll see fewer advertisements. Equally so and maybe more important these days, spend less time at digital stores too.
5. Configure your computer to block pop-up ads. There are no fool-proof methods for blocking advertisements on your computer, but there are some reasonable steps you can take to limit the number you see. Here are some ideas for Mac users and some ideas for Windows users.
6. Don’t ignore ads, see through them instead. There is a tendency among all of us to think that advertisements don’t influence us. We foolishly believe we are unaffected by them. Or we assume if we aren’t paying attention, they are not influencing our thoughts. But the better approach, rather than ignoring ads, is to see through them instead. See through the false promises that they offer—that their product will help you get the girl, be the life of the party, or become the envy of the neighborhood. The more you recognize how a brand is trying to subtly stir up discontent in your life, the less likely they are to succeed.
The fewer advertisements we see, the happier we are. Which, by the way, may be one of the reasons you enjoy Becoming Minimalist so much (no ads).
It is likely impossible for you to remove every advertisement from your everyday life, but there are certainly positive steps we can take to limit them—and become happier because of it.
At least with Comcast you can mute the sound and put the channel guide on instead of seeing the ad…….I noticed on certain streaming sites, they have started “closed captioning” on their crap……I can’t block it so I have to look away or close my eyes until all the blinking camera shots come to an end……It is NOT my duty to watch or buy the ‘products’ the advertisers want me to. I was 12 years old in 1963 when I made a wired speaker switch to kill the sound…..I have been muting the ads ever since……I hate when I am somewhere else and have to hear something I have blocked for a long time and now I ‘know’ what it is.
Stop
Thank you Joshua, so relevant. HBR is one of the review I have followed for years.
Thrilled to find same thinkers as me. Born in 1955 into a middle class family I’ve been bombarded with corporate driven tv/media that try’s to exemplify how I could look, taste and feel about myself.
Down to the the schoolroom food pyramid. I curse the day school systems had to sell out to major corporate franchises to sell food to kids. Advertising to kids in the schoolroom.
Who is really running the country? The corporations are, and not to be a downer but we all know that several consecutive disasters will bring down all of it.
I try not to think about that, I try to be a minimalist.
Someone said about ads in big city could give you a panic attack. I agree. It definitely can overwhelming. That’s why my wife has never wanted to go to Las Vegas, nor to New York for New Year!
YES, absolutely agree. One of the reason that i like your blog is because there is no advertisement and i can read through the passages very focus.
My man and I laugh at the commercials!
“I must be doing it wrong, I don’t have a jade stone for my face, a lip exfoliating routine” etc.
And he exclaims every time he shaves that it would be so much better with a heater razor, then he needs some custom fit jeans and those special un-tucked shirts.
We find them amusing.
And he’s the master at switching stations during commercials. :O)
Re #3: I’ve found that clicking “Unsubscribe” doesn’t always work. Often it just verifies to the sender that they have the correct email address. I just send the email to “Junk” instead. This is especially effective for political ads. I want to thank my best friend for that tip.
Minimalism seems to have caused me to reflect on issues near and far, large and small. As, I soon concluded that there must be an immediate instruction of… acquire only that what you need, not what you greed.
Who promotes and encourages the desires, the demands, the unnecessary emotion to have? Marketers, marketing strategists….
Who accepts such messages to be OK and permitted? Misinformed consumers, immature consumers, disoriented consumers, money-makers….
Who suffers? The environment filled with purposeful ecosystems comprising of all of life, plus you and me.
Who permits such misbehaviour?
Who facilitates such misbehaviour?
Who participates such misbehaviour increases?
What is failing?
Formal education is failing. On all levels, our education systems are floundering, broken. A glue has yet to be located and applied. The term minimalism must not be defined incorrectly or minimally advanced. Minimalism is more than an economic or more room or less clutter. Consider minimalism be balance. An adventure awaits.
Freedoms ought not be dictated; nor should morality be legislated. If so, all to no avail. Brokenness will abound.
All negativities or weaknesses set aside, It can be easy to find myself caught up in a wrestling match. What’s next?
Thanks for posting this. One factor that many people need to consider is: What is the hourly rate I need to earn to live my current lifestyle? This mentality would help them see their purchases as forcing them to give up time with people and things they love.
It always shocks me when I watch TV. I haven’t had TV since 2007, but will see it on at the gym or when travelling. It really pulls you in. I traveled for Christmas, and saw very clearly how the messages were targeted for chasing unobtainable perfection. And it did make me sad.
I agree, avoiding it is best.
Consider buying a subscription to news sites instead of blocking their ads. Support good journalism AND get rid of the ads.
Subscribing doesn’t eliminate the ads. You still need an ad blocker. And then the paper to which you pay good money for your subscription (without ads) will still berate you constantly for having an ad blocker because they want your money and also the ad revenue. So get the ad blocker and ignore them.
Another idea from Care for the Family in the UK is to play “spot the lie” with your kids. Teach your kids to look for the subliminal lie within the advert – ie “You will be happy if you only had…..!” Is this really true? What happened last time you really really wanted something? Where is it now? Did it make you happy?
This may be a different sort of comment as would be expected here but it is an issue I’ve been “struggling”with. I manage a small picture framing business. I believe custom framing is important, we preserve and present art/memories. I know, like all things, art on the walls can be overdone. But for the most part, I believe there is still a need for my industry among minimalists. As a small business though, we have to let people know we are here. Are there any thought on a way to do this without being just another advertiser trying to push someone to purchase something they don’t need?
Survey your customers. How did they find you? What do they watch/read? Consider getting a booth at art or craft or home improvement fairs. Joint marketing with art galleries targeted to the audience you’re actually trying to reach. Pin point versus scattershot.
Great ideas Jill D!
I’m just starting up a new business, and wanting to be ‘found’ but not go over the top.
Plus, whilst I’ve had a couple of businesses before, (such as the handyman one which advertised in the Yellow Pages here in Australia which was a thick, thin-paged volume anything from 5 to 10 cm thick, depending on the locality it was in; and word-of-mouth; – I ran a small 2 x truck P/L Transport Company which worked on word of mouth, generated by past customers of the suppliers I was sub-contracting to.
*If* they were appreciative of how much care and skill we took delivering their multi-thousand dollar couches, etc., they would often ask us if we did removals on the weekend.
So I always carried business cards with me (and would give them two, one for them & one for a friend) and occasionally small handbills, but I never had them delivered into people’s letterboxes, or got around to emailing them, or building a website, as I could easily have enough requests to work 7 x days a week if I wanted too.
As a a minimalist, the sentimental items are the toughest to let go of. Could you show how you could beautifully frame those items, old letters, envelopes, land deeds, veteran certificates, diplomas, quilt pieces, jewelry, Mass cards, obituaries, wartime items, treasured books ( just a few of the things I have) and of course pictures in unique and beautiful ways? And advertise to this group?
Nancy
Consumerism, materialism are parts of capitalism – a system that takes no account of our happiness and is interested in its bottom line only. I don’t do tv nor radio. Problem is living in a hedonic treadmill on such a grand scale. The only way to deal with a society starving to sell you things is awareness; mentally intercepting these messages is all we can do. Agree to ignore ?
Don’t just block pop-up ads on the internet. Block all advertisements. There are a lot of ways to do it, but probably the easiest is to install an ad-blocker on your browser. Not just on your home computer or laptop, but also your mobile phone.
I see virtually no ads because of doing the above items. I would add one, though: be very intentional about what magazines you buy, and learn to screen out the ads as you read. That’s easy. We all know what they look like. Just give the page a quick scan and turn it if it’s ads. Some magazines have all their full-page ads on one side, so just skip those pages. I can now sit at the doctor’s office, pick up a magazine, and read articles without seeing ads. When the artlcles are about getting stuff, I get another magazine to try.
My family of 5 share a Spotify account to avoid radio commercials.
Only watch TV programs that we have taped so we can fast-forward through the ads.
Cancelled all magazine subscriptions, and only read books that we borrow for free at the library.
No longer go to movie theatres (with their 20 minutes of pre-movie ads), and borrow DVDs from the library.
Limit their internet use to one hour a day, unless it’s for homework.
I think we have reduced our kids exposure to advertising by about 75%.
Great post!
#3 – Instead of unsubscribing completely, I set a rule that these emails directly go to different folders. That way, I choose the time to look through them. When its time for me to go shopping, I’ll scan through my “shopping and sales” folders to look for coupons and special sales. But they’re not in my face (or inbox) anymore. Same with newsletters and blog posts. Every so often, I’ll go through and unsubscribe from the ones that no longer interest me.
Sadly I find this post highly ironic. I have been absolutely inundated with constant advertising for your course for the last couple of months straight. It has been plugged in almost every message from here so I finally unsubscribed from the advertising on here.
Unfortunately I then had to unsubscribe from no sidebar because there was no way to avoid it there. This actually is very sad and even more ironic as it was named no sidebar originally since the intent was to share fresh inspired content with NO ADVERTISING.
Even more frustrating is the fact that almost every other blogger that I subscribe to in this area has ALSO been constantly plugging the course. It has been EVERYWHERE even though I actually don’t watch tv, don’t get barely any store adds etc in my email Yet I have found my self with daily bombardment from 95% of the sources that were my weekly highlights of inspiration in my inbox! Do I just unsubscribe completely from all of you? I don’t want to do that because you all have been positive and inspiring for me. It has really reached epic levels lately and I find myself very morally bothered and overall irritated.
Even over at the minimalists who I love they have started this “really cool text my actual phone to converse experiment” yet in order to take part you have to agree to receive advertising via text on your phone…. WHAT IS GOING ON YOU GUYS? I know you all have to make a living but this is the opposite of the messages being put out!
With nothing but love, concern and wishes for the best, Jessica
I agree with your comments, Jessica, and have also unsubscribed from or stopped reading completely many “minimalist” blogs that are constantly hocking their “life changing” courses.
I’ll also find it ironic there was no mention of social media or blog advertising. Social media platforms and blogs have become so overrun with “influencers” it’s almost impossible to find authentic content any more. (Has anyone else noticed at least half of Joshua’s weekend reads are links to content he wrote!) Everything feels like a commodity now. The simple fact that bloggers and influencers can make a living — in some cases, a very good living — should make us all pause and question who is driving the content we all consume each day on blogs and social media (hint: it’s companies who want to sell us something). Same message, new —-and more effective —messengers.
I empathize with where both of you are coming from. We live in an era of constant disruption to established norms. It is virtually impossible to pay for content that doesn’t sell you anything. Instead the model is “Here’s all this free content and you’re going to pay for it by serving a member of a monetized audience.” Because this is now so widely accepted as the norm for funding content creation, it becomes a numbers game and individuals liked you and I don’t even have a choice beyond turning off the content entirely.
While I’m optimistic that one day, the masses will realize how dehumanizing the mechanics behind content consumption and social media are, I’m not going to bet on it happening either.
Agree. I resisted “wasting” money on an online ad remover until I decided to give myself one as a gift. So much relief and pleasure for so little money.
My TV “habit” is a big free help. No ads, quality programs PBS, and my no ads escapIst treat TCM.
Ad blockers are free “add-ons” to at least some browsers, like Firefox. No need to spend money on them.
I’ve found that watching less television has helped in a couple of ways, including less adverts.
But, I really like #6 because it encourages a healthy skepticism and can be applied to both advertising and “news” programs.
Great tips, I really appreciate what you’re doing.
Whenever my computer “forces” me to sit through a video ad, I use it as a reminder to do deep breathing exercises. So I actually benefit from these ads without having to pay attention to them.
Love this! Turning a perceived negative into a positive is always an admirable action.
As for me, I essentially blank out all ads, and/or derive satisfaction with having not being persuaded by them. For me, saving cash is way better than being a ‘consumer sucker’.
and all these stupid advertisers who think people are going to read their adds I turn off the tv rather than lessening to them read a book my friend reading enrich your lives
Another way to significantly lessen the impact of ads, if you are wat hing TV, is to press MUTE the moment the ads begin and not to turn on the volume again until the programme restarts.