What happens when advertising bombards us with the message that happiness is found in increased consumption, and not in social connection? Can we escape the work-more-to-purchase-more world advertising encourages us to reside in?

We live in a world where the consumer culture’s narrative is steadily growing:

This narrative tells us that, even when we have enough wealth to defeat scarcity, we should continue earning more so we can spend more, because we’ll only be content when we meet the next man-made need.

The consumer culture’s narrative reduces our natural tendencies toward social connection, and hampers our natural tenderness for one another, by telling us to seek contentment in increased consumption (“look what I have!”) and production (“see what I can do!”).

This consumer culture narrative first grew in the early 1900s, when advertising extended its reach into homes, transitioning from tiny newspaper ads into radio boxes and later onto television sets, filling living rooms with advertisements selling artificial wants.

Frighteningly, today’s artificial intelligence (AI) feeds on a remarkable diet of personal data and individualized interactions, something new to our human experience, and through AI the consumer culture becomes infinitely more skilled at creating customized stories for each us, stories that insist happiness will be found in our next purchase.

Caught in this endless cycle, we’re prevented from embracing the true opportunities of our affluence… the time to truly enjoy one another.