To feel very old-fashioned or just out of step?

[Prole]

I'm not vain and don't see it as a virtuous trait. I'm not narcissistic enough to think my life is interesting enough to broadcast on the internet - even my dinners. I think conspicuous consumption and branding is just hideous. (To me a designer whatsit covered in branding just screams "look at me; I'm a consumer too". And 'Haul videos' WTAF?

All the above weren't seen as desirable traits when growing up (born late sixties into a piss poor family) but now seem to be acceptable if not positively encouraged.

What's it all about? It seems so prevalent I almost daren't call it 'wrong' but just 'beyond my ken'.

Am I just a scruffy, boring slob with rubbish clothes who's out of step with the Twenty-first century? Do I need to get with the program and stop shopping at the army surplus?

[EllenTheEgret]

What's a "haul video"?

You sound entirely normal to me.

[UmbongoUnchained]

It's called moving on. You either do or you don't.

[witsender]

I don't know anyone in real life like you describe OP. Of course the people you see are the people who want to be seen. Most people just get on with life.

[Prole]

A Haul Video is where some person on Youtube goes shopping then comes home and makes a video about all the wonderful things they've purchased.

It's every kind of wrong to me.

[roundandroundthehouses]

It's a fashion, and fashion comes and goes.

In a few years' time the wheel will have turned , and the same people will be making videos where they take all their evil consumer shallowness out to the garden and burn it, or conspicuously raffle it off for good causes.

[Prole]

witsender - I live in London where everything I mention seems to exist in bucket loads; though I'd guess the broadcasting of dinners and life's other minutiae is pretty spread about?

[LovelyBranches]

You may not be the things you described but you do sound judgemental and self righteous so I wouldn't slap myself on the back too much if I were you. People live different lives, they value different things and they document in different ways. So what?

[roundandroundthehouses]

(Except for the sponsored ones, being paid to show off specific products in their hauls.)

[witsender]

Tbh, I see a lot of virtuous frugality online as a kick back, so I wouldn't say that it is all one way.

[Prole]

Lovely branches - I'm certainly not slapping myself on the back. The social (and to an extent, moral) compass has seemingly moved so much in my forty-eight years I really don't get it. I'm just saying how it appears to me and am quite ready to be corrected or better-informed. Hence the post.

Tell me more.

[PortobelloRoad]

Haul videos are normally from bloggers/people who want to be bloggers/social media people. They show off their stuff, hope to gain followers from good videos, then eventually hope to get free products to pretend they've bought to promote them for the company that gave them to them.

[JassyRadlett]

I live in London and haven't seen much or any of what you've described. Maybe it's the social media you're consuming, and the people you're following or interacting with online?

These attitudes and practices have always existed to some extent, there are just many more ways for people who care about them to share them with others these days.

[revealall]

Mmm I was going to agree but then remembered I'm a bit guilty of this too.

I'm a fan of smaller brands " Get Cutie" from Brighton being an example. Quite easy to spot their style and I'd love a haul video of their stuff.

I think it's the brands themselves that annoy me. Superdry, Northface and all sports ones really.

[bakingaddict]

No you've just turned into a miserable old git. People have always tried to display their wealth that's nothing new just that nowadays they have more technology to do it through

[Kennington]

I don't get it either but I think I have a Quaker attitude sometimes. And am not one.
My parents were very anti branding and this has expressed itself later in life in me. I have a few smart bags and hide the labels - like a fool!

[Birdsgottafly]

How are you defining 'morals'?

Vanity being a sin, was never about beauty, it was about seeing yourself as above those around you and bragging about things such as being educated.

Some of my adult DDs friends put there lives on FB etc, they are a lot more moral than the adults that were around when I was growing up, who condoned putting disabled people in institutions, justifying DV and sexism/racism.

I'm 47, I see social media as a way of sharing, it's optional.

[Owllady]

I don't know, I do it every time I get home from farmfoods and no one has ever complained

[Prole]

roundandround - I remember the 'no logo' trend about twenty-five years ago. That didn't last...

What set me off was seeing an advert on the tube earlier. It was for self-storage units but was specifically aimed at heavy consumers. Don't remember the exact wording but the jist was.. "Love to Shop? Have too much stuff? Then stick last seasons fashion in our lovely storage." I was amazed you can be so brazen about over-consumption these days.

[Buzzardbird]

I was born in scaringly similar circumstances to you. It all makes me feel uncomfortable.
The bragging from people my own age on FB is unbelievable. Don't get me wrong, I feel very spoiled today but have felt no need to post it on FB...same with school reports etc.

[Caboodle]

I must be old fashioned too then. Yanbu

[Birdsgottafly]

As for branding, the clothing industry has changed dramatically.

Some brands are worth buying, other are bought for how they look.

You've got to accept, to some extent that we need people to consume, it provides employment.

[Nanodust]

It's all to do with attitude and the social media is viewed. Think back to when email took over snail mail. Now the way people are communicating is via FB, twitter, Instagram etc etc. It's not singularly about people wanting to show off- though I agree that is a big part of it too. However FB is IMO manipulating things so that 'the youth' use the public comms routes to benefit the FB agenda which is to slowly rule the world mwa ha ha ha (think Dr.Evil in Austin Powers and you get Mark Zuckerberg)!

[lorelei9]

I don't think this is age related
I'm 40 and a bit if a frugaleer

I don't like consumption and shopping and don't feel the need for stuff

But the three people in my life most likely to indulge in what you've described, avid lovers of the things I don't care for, are 44, 47 and 55. They're also obsessed with selfies and use them for constant analysis of their fashions, then get sad when I don't notice their outfits or know what brand boors they're wearing.

[witsender]

It is more just that there is hugely accessible social media and cheaper goods. Keeping up with the Joneses was always a thing.

[Prole]

Jassy _ I'm on any social media but cannot avoid other people showing me what's on theirs.

Reveal all - yes fucking Superdry. Why ruin a nice jacket with a HUGE logo? It's beyond me.

Birds gotta fly - I guess my mention of 'morals' is that I was specifically brought up to reject conspicuous consumption (admitted from my gran who was born in 1914) so see it's apparent acceptance as a moral shift.