Blogging and materialism

*via sashafatcat

Something's been bubbling up in me for awhile... Should I share or not share? I debate with myself... Finally decided in favor of sharing, because this is a place I want to be real.

Does the blog world promote materialism? It feels that way to me at times.

But then it probably depends on what kinds of blogs you're reading... I've been a big blog reader for probably 6 years now.  And I've gone through phases of reading different types of blogs.  In the past year I've been reading lots of home decor, design, style, fashion blogs.  And it is burning me out frankly. I still love these types of things, but it's just too much. I want to find some new blogs to read and yet I'm not quite sure exactly what I'm looking for.


But don't "materials" represent ideas, symbols, feelings, ways of looking at the world? Yes - so you could argue, in a sense, that we communicate to each other in a roundabout way through materials.

I wear a 60s thrift store dress - you see me.  You think: She has a thing for the past, she likes to hunt for treasure, she's a little quirky - not totally mainstream, she's whimsical, she's artsy, whatever...

See - that "material thing" is really a communication device.  And bloggers who blog about material things could also be blogging about an art form, bringing new artistic creations and styles and moods to a new audience. That's the positive side of it and one I still believe in.

The problem becomes when you are in a raging torrent in the middle of it.  The problem becomes when you try to follow and read all these blogs at once and find everyday you are presented with new outfits and new jewelry and new hairstyles and new lamps and new wallpaper and new boots and new perfume.  More than you could possibly ever buy - and even at a certain point - more than you can even appreciate or comprehend. And on and on to eternity. And then you feel as if all those material things start to lose meaning.

Not to mention the deeper questions.  Isn't there more to life than the acquisition of stuff? And if we become so fixated on stuff, do we start to forget deeper things? Do we forget people? Do we become insular and lose sight of the larger world - of other places, other people, other lifestyles, of our immense privilege?

I don't begrudge bloggers who purely write about stuff - that's okay.  It's just not for me.  Not all the time.
I'm not totally anti-stuff, I just ache for something deeper, especially in this time of my life... Time to bring in Solomon.

p.s. Hope no one is offended by my commentary!  I still love all you bloggers, my head is just too small to fit everything in these days...