SHOPPING MAKES US LONELY AND SAD

(August 2013) A new study finds that when we’re feeling sad and socially isolated, we shop. But shopping makes us even more depressed and alone. To fix it, we shop more. For the study, from Tilburg University in the Netherland, a sample of more than 2,500 consumers over six years were asked how much they agreed with statements, such as: “It sometimes bothers me quite a bit that I can’t afford to buy all the things I like,” and “I enjoy buying things that are not practical.” The shoppers were then placed in different materialist categories and tested for loneliness. The evidence showed that over time, and regardless of income, materialism was associated with an increase in loneliness, and loneliness was associated with an increase in materialism.
* Let me sum this up: We’re screwed.
* I’m just glad we’re mainly a spiritual society and material things don’t mean that much.
* Great, the one thing keeping the economy from collapsing and you want to mess it up too.
* Okay, I’m going to start a dating service based on two strangers meeting up and going shopping.
* And their chaperone is a stand-up comic.
* Have you seen a real shopper around a sale? I’m not sensing sad and lonely at all.
* If anything they seem turned on and horny.
* PHONE TOPIC: Do you think shopping make you sad?