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Absolutely. It seems to have become popular to value "experiences over things" as if that's somehow virtuous and makes you better than materialistic people who
by J-dawg 7y ago
Absolutely. It seems to have become popular to value "experiences over things" as if that's somehow virtuous and makes you better than materialistic people who just want to accumulate stuff.
It's really just another branch of the same kind of materialism.
The mating signal thing is crazy too. I recently dabbled in dating apps (hopefully, never again). It seems virtually every woman on there is obsessed with travel (has "wanderlust", or wants to visit "30 countries before 30", or "couldn't live without my passport", along with a bunch of photos of them posing in front of familiar stock-photo tourist sites).
It's almost always like this: an obsession with travel itself, rather than a passion for a particular culture or region or language or activity that requires travel. (Which might not really be any better, but I'd identify with it a lot more easily).
What's driving this? Is it covert (or subconscious) signalling that they want a mate with the resources to fund this lifestyle? Or simply a feeling that this is expected of them to seem fun and interesting?
As you said, not nearly enough has been written. I wish a great writer with the requisite knowledge of culture and psychology would dive into this.
- silveroriole 7y agoThey definitely think it automatically makes them fun/interesting, but it also functions as a way to automatically become an expert on something. I like to watch nature documentaries. Someone I knew started bothering me about how I should travel like them and see REAL giraffes, lions etc rather than just watching. Did they know anything about the animals themselves? No, but they’d SEEN them, which they felt made them an authority. Same with the dullards on dating sites who put up photos with impoverished children - it’s a nice way to signal that you tooootally know and care about such things without actually having to do any boring learning. And everyone who travels will jump at the chance to lecture you interminably about “authentic” food and drink...
- collyw 7y agoKind of like how people criticize them on internet forums to show how much better they are than that.....
- nkrisc 7y agoIt boils down to accumulating "experiences" (or selfies) instead of things, but it's really the same. I mean, do you think these people are going to these places, taking only memories, and then cherishing the memories on their own? No, they flaunt it just as someone flaunts a supercar. It's intangible materialism, as silly as that sounds. If you really want to experience something, don't take any pictures. Just be there. After a while you might not have vivid memories of everything you saw, but you'll still be able to recall the feeling of being there. Talk to other people about it face to face, describe what you felt and what it was like to be there. I have no photos of a trip my family took to some lake house in Indiana when it was young. I couldn't tell you what the place looked like, but I can still feel the calm and relaxation of being there decades later. I have no photos of a waterfall I visited with my wife in Grand Teton National Park, but I can still feel the cool air and the mist in the air. Couldn't tell you what it looked like, but I have what matters. And I didn't have to show it to anyone.
- astura 7y agoThis is the first time I've ever head the term "wanderlust" and it sincerely hope its the last.
- sowbug 7y agoHere's your second. The first time I encountered the word was in 1980, reading a 1969 comic book containing the phrase "The Wanderlust begins to rise in my bosom!" Phineas T. Phreak was speaking, and I think he ended up going to Disneyland with two of his friends (with hilarious results).
- J-dawg 7y agoMy sincere apologies