we are in the age of the algorithm. the decisions we make, the things we purchase and consume, and even the people we interact with are increasingly given to us, rather than chosen. obviously, there will always be a cultural pulse that connects and moves the state of life forward for people in a certain domain, but that concept has fundamentally changed now.

overconsumption is a symptom.

many digital platforms now exist on the idea of creating the feeling of 'want'. most of the time, that's the reason most of the behind the scenes algorithms exist. when that feeling of want materializes, i feel we allow so much slop (for the lack of a better term) to enter our lives. slop can take form in a physical or metaphysical space, regardless, it eases us into a lull of submissiveness.

(can we call that bad religion?)

we only get ourselves out of loops by revelation and practice (sounds pretty religious #Hmm). i've always been someone that values well designed products and services, but that doesn't mean i'm immune to overconsumption. at one point during my freshman year of university, i decided to take a more thorough dip into curating my personal wardrobe, and at the time, the workwear/vaguely americana vibe was a really big trend, so i started thrifting to get into that. quickly, my closet was filled with barely vintage hoodies and cargo pants. it felt good to look at something new, but a year later, i loathed the aesthetic i had dove so hard into, and now had to fill my car with when moving back and forth from school.

revelation.

if you can't decide what you like, what are you except meat and bones with a few electrical pulses? the decisions we make are who we are. they make you YOU, rather than someone else. when it comes to the things we decide to interact with on a daily basis, i think it's necessary to care about yourself enough to 1. have (high) standards for the things in your life, and 2. be self sufficient in choosing (curation).

practice.

once the scarcity mindset of thrifting wore off, and i could tell myself with confidence that i could leave a thrift empty handed, things started clicking. the practice of trusting your own intuition isn't just important for your closet, but your life as a whole. who and what do you really want to spend time with every day? from a creative sense, what do you ACTUALLY like? what speaks to you, and why? how much do you trust yourself to answer these questions, and can you recognize when systems are creating the feeling of want? recently, techbros have scratched the surface of this under the guise of "taste", but i think a lot of them will only get that far, forever chasing creating another Mac OS aqua interface without understanding why it was created in the first place.

just go thrifting.