Around the turn of the century cough I became aware of the concept of "affluenza" (a portmanteau of affluence and influenza), watched a PBS show on the topic, and read the book "Your Money or Your Life," which changed my life. Before that time I was a materialistic kid, gathering as much stuff as I could.

The TL;DR to these is that once you get enough anything more produces rapidly diminishing returns in the happiness department:

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affluenza

- http://www.pbs.org/kcts/affluenza/show/joe.html

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

The movie Fight Club also came out around this time with a similar message and was the "knockout punch" to my consumerism, haha. Not long after this I'd sold most of what I owned, quit my job, and took a trip around the world. Have been much happier ever since, with new expectations and goals.

Another thing I learned on that trip, I did not miss TV one minute while I was gone, and found a lot of the garbage (consumerism, superstition, Britney news, and petty politics) in my mind had cleared. The main purpose of TV news and advertising is to drive fear and desire, which I now liken to a cancer, but one that can be beat.

Yes, we have netflix and itunes because there are some great shows, right? But commercials and mainstream news sources---fuck no---life is much better without them.