Americans have too much money and too much stuff.

[cinematicdiversions]

The U.S. has 3.1% of the world’s children, but consumes 40% of the world’s toys. This is horrifying. How much is enough and why is it not making us happier despite our overabundance of wealth and stuff.

https://www.uctv.tv/RelatedContent.aspx?RelatedID=301

[Karadeniz]

1. Materialism has overwhelmed soul.

[cinematicdiversions]

36. There is a tipping point where to much stuff (And yes that can include money)

causes negative feedback rather than positive feedback

Your stuff really can make you miserable.

[Karadeniz]

41. Absolutely!!! I watched the PBS show on WR Hearst last night... soul mate to Trump. Whatever

decent impulses he had were squelched by self interest.

[Demovictory9]

2. yeah... something has to go out for me to bring in something new... but I always find away

I feel particularly guilty about the packaging... just to to have a "to go" salad. so much packaging for the trash

[PortTack]

3. Adults are the guilty ones....buying all that crap. They buy for themselves too, and when their

Home is overrun with crap...oh..let’s get a storage unit. More space to buy more

[citizen blues]

28. Exactly!

It's always bewildered me why people don't park in their garage. It's because their garage is filled with stuff! Then when that's completely piled with junk, they get a storage unit!

I guess I've always done this gut-check by asking myself when is it enough? I'm there. And I live in a 900 sq ft duplex with a single car garage that I park in and small patio and yard. Previous tenant left a 38" diameter tire in the back yard. I cleaned it up, painted it, filled it with dirt, and grew lettuce in it this summer.

Whatever happened to that old adage:

Use it up, wear it out.
Make do, do without.

[PortTack]

34. Kudos to you!!

[Liberal In Texas]

4. Sounds like a George Carlin bit.

Oh wait. It is...

[BidenRocks]

23. My first thought

Yet I still pay 140/mo to store crap I will never use.
We are indeed insane.

[cinematicdiversions]

45. My late wife used to manage a self storage center

The amount fo people who spent hundreds a month to store Christmas decorations from the dollar store is staggering.

[peacefreak2.0]

5. Can't prove that by me.

Been on the edge of edge for so long I know no other way.

[roamer65]

7. On 15 July 1979 a president told the truth.

….and we ignored him and threw him out of office.

[Capt. America]

27. And America chose Reagan....and its taken 40 years..but I think the young people are done with

rampant capitalism.

[OAITW r.2.0]

8. I have 50 acres, a comfortable bed, superior sunsets. audio options, and landscaping equipment.

What else do I need?

[Diamond_Dog]

9. It's obscene how many toys some kids have in America

Perhaps some adults equate buying stuff for kids with love?

[LiberatedUSA]

44. Some celeb kids have their own homes.

Doesn’t get much more play house than having an actual furnished house.

[LakeArenal]

10. Parents are stressed. Can't find quality time so they buy toys.

Or food.

It’s another symptom of the hole that can’t be filled.

[sarcasmo]

11. Thankfully my little 1,000 square foot can only hold so much.

[AleksS]

12. More stuff and less time to enjoy it.

Except for everyone who also has less money and less stuff and also less time to enjoy it.

It feels like everyone is working all the time—nowhere near as many stay-at-home parents—and even then, many aren’t able to make ends meet, and those that do are so busy working to get more that they don’t have time to enjoy what they have.

It’s vicious, and I’d almost like to call it a pernicious pervasive psychological disorder. Unrelenting desire. Inability to be content.

[localroger]

13. Even as adults, we mistake toys for happiness

We crush our children under a mountain of toys because we don't know other ways to be happy or content. This is a thing I can easily see even though I don't have children of my own, and likely never will being 57 and my wife 63. But we have bought our own toys for ourselves, some of which fill up our house to the point that we know we can't get any more unless we get rid of something to make room. And we do that because we can.

[littlemissmartypants]

14. Welcome to DU, cinematicdiversions. nt

[mopinko]

15. play is the work of childhood.

my kids had a ton of toys. because i knew that every knew toy wired a new brain circuit.
it is the work of childhood to finish wiring the brain by digesting the world. in the time since my kids were babies, we have discovered just how much they know, and how programmed they are to explore and understand.
yeah, there are stupid crap toys. we managed to avoid a lot of them.
but then there were legos and little people.

my #2 is prolly on the spectrum, but that wasnt even a word then. i just knew what he was up to, the way he devoured the world.
his thing was legos. every xmas, he asked santa for whatever the big set was that year. since there was a drunk cousin who showed up in a red suit on xmas eve, we were stuck.
but we never regretted it. once the plans were followed, the thing assembled, the real fun started. the stuff that boy built blew me away. and the stories that went w them.
that kid now? has a phd in theoretical math, but working as a computer guru. crunching big numbers. did i mention that he taught himself 3 computer languages after he dropped out of high school? he also had computer games starting at age 3.

play is the work of childhood. dont lament that american kids have too many, lament that the rest of the world's children have so few.

[cinematicdiversions]

17. There is very good eveidence that to many toys is worse for children than too few.

Researchers such as Sheena Iyengar and Barry Schwartz have pioneered this area of study, finding that being overwhelmed with options can create an adverse experience called “choice overload or “The Paradox of Choice.”


People tend to want as many options as possible. Whether it’s buying a car or a meal, they gravitate toward companies that offer more options versus fewer ones, because they believe a large selection will maximize their chances of finding the best fit.


But when it comes to actually making a decision from all of these options, people can become paralyzed—and avoid making choices altogether.

Even worse, when they finally do come to a decision, they’re more dissatisfied and regretful about whatever choice they make.


500 Channels and nothing is on....

https://www.fastcompany.com/90411925/having-too-many-choices-is-making-us-miserable

[myohmy2]

16. "...despite our overabundance of wealth and stuff."

...speak for yourself...I'm not overabundanced...

...I was hoping for another $1400 COVID check to help pay my bills...

...the wealth/income gap is real and is destroying America and Americans...

...let's not get off on a tangent, things are only going to get uglier...

...

[PoliticAverse]

18. Mountains o' Things...

[stopdiggin]

19. Why single out toys?

it's a disease that lasts until they're shoveling dirt in on top of us - and even there we overspend like coke addicts.

[cinematicdiversions]

21. I think because the numbers are so shocking.

And the obvious waste is well obvious.

Even parents who seem mindful of the number of toys they get thier kids are often overwhelmed by the sheer number of toys from well meaning family members and classmates of their kids.

One could easily do this with clothing, televisions and shoes.

[stopdiggin]

22. and I was just riffing

no disagreement on the subject of children's toys.

And if I want to go off on that topic .. The amount of absolute 'dreck' that is marketed (being way too kind) to the 8 and under crowd over the holidays. It's near criminal.

[question everything]

20. On occasions I read in an advice column how desperate parents

cannot stop grandparents from piling stuff on the grandkids.

[cinematicdiversions]

24. It is my second favorite advice column.

My favorite (Which I have experienced) is the parents trying to force their large brown furniture, baby grand pianos and china sets on to thier children who already have a house full of furniture they bought themselves. Thank you very much.

Nothing scarier than a baby boomer downsizing after forty years in the same house.

[KentuckyWoman]

30. Made me laugh.

Yes, people do tend to "grow" into a house.

[JI7]

25. It's getting worse with Social Media and starting much earlier also

babies and very young kids don't care what they get . It's when the kids start getting a little older that they have demands. So at younger ages parents can get away with not getting them much without any trouble .

But now there is social media and people wanting to put on huge fancy parties for kids that are so young they wont even remember it . And guests feel like they have to get something special .

I would also bet there are far less cases of kids getting clothing handed down to them from older siblings or other relatives close friends. Because parents want the new trendy crap for babies to show off on their social media. The thing they bought 2-3 years ago when the first one was born is now out of style so they can't use that for the new baby .

[monkeyman1]

26. just check out the land fill's ! more known as Waste Management !

[KentuckyWoman]

29. I own a fraction of the stuff most people have - and I have too much.

Other people think I'm frugal and minimal. I'm the kind with 2 purses - one of which I only use for funerals and weddings, and an everyday one. I am THAT sort.

We never were ones to buy but we were lucky. Stuff was built to last. Right now I'm sitting in a chair that was a hand it down to my parents ....

Though there is no clutter - I'm still a hoarder.

I save the twisties and the bags. I have a shelf of really nice boxes because someday I might need this box. And we won't even mention the drawer full of saved notions for mending things and the box under the sink with all the littles from the hotels. I can't even tell you the last time I bought a bar of soap or hand lotion. If it might be useful, I probably save it.

[NJCher]

31. Sounds like a good practice to me

If you didn’t take the chair, where would it be now?

Let’s take the notions as an example. If you didn’t have them, then you would have to buy them. That means a trip to the store and an expenditure. Time and gas, too. Or buy a new garment. I think mending the garment is the more environmentally friendly option.

[KentuckyWoman]

32. Maybe but if a frugal one like me hoards then

how much worse for younger people who were raised in a "throw away" world. Stuff doesn't last like it did.

Toys now seem more breakdownable. Even someone who isn't buying like a drunken lottery winner - it's going to be a lot easier to end up with a garage full of half broken junk the kids have grown out of.

But yes, it baffles me how people can afford houses big enough for walk in closets in every room and 2 car garages so stuffed they could not possibly get a car in.

[NJCher]

33. pssst....what's in the garage?

how much worse for younger people who were raised in a "throw away" world

OK, I see your point.

Yes, literally everyone on the street nearest me has a neat house. Not a piece of junk sitting outside. From what one can tell of the interiors, neat as a pin, too.

However, the garage? Stacked to the ceiling with what I don't know but stuff.

[cinematicdiversions]

35. I don't understand why you would leave what is usually your second biggest investment.

out in the elements while keeping a few hundred dollars' worth of Christmas decorations and junk furniture in your garage.

[senseandsensibility]

37. Stuff, yes, money

it depends on who we're talking about.

[MineralMan]

38. All Americans?

Generalizing makes for an easily refuted argument. Many Americans, perhaps?

[lame54]

39. Lottery winners...

Who are in debt in 6 months
Gotta have that stuff

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

40. I don't have too much money, can I have some of yours? And a boat, yeah I need that too, thx!

[obamanut2012]

43. same

[csziggy]

42. Yes, every child I know has far too many toys

And every holiday season relatives give them way more toys.

That's why a generation ago when my nieces and nephews started arriving, I never gave toys. From when they were infants, I gave books. Once they got into their teens, old enough to learn discretionary spending, I gave them money.

Now for my great niece and nephews I give the parents gift cards to buy the children books. I am no longer up to date on what subjects the little ones are interested in and I think it is good for them to be able to go pick out their own books, plus it lets the see how to get more for their money.

But I will buy them no toys. One set of great nephews has a whole room at their grandparents' house filled with toys. I have no idea what they have at their own house, likely many more toys.