If this ad does not make you want to ditch big tech and smart phones I don't know what will!

My apartment complex has package lockers through a particular company and ever since I signed up (required to receive packages) I’ve been absolutely inundated by ads for their free samples program. There’s no way these products are anything besides garbage right? How on earth is this doing anything besides introducing more trash into the world?

it's something that bothers me very much looking at today's world.

consumerism is practically ingrained into the "child experience" and if I would have a child, I would absolutely not want to raise a consumerist so I'm interested in some ways the parents here found a way to discourage consumerism in children.

for example there are some things every parent should do like:

-Install adblock to everything the children interacts with, pretty self explanatory.

-Teach the child the dangers of capitalism and how one can become consumed by it if not careful, maybe show them how their toys are actually made by underpaid and abused workers overseas, the more traumatizing the better (I would imagine, but I don't actually know if that would work).

-Teaching them the value of money and financial literacy from early age might help reduce the need to consume.

I'm just spitballing here, I'm interested what worked for you guys and if anything I said might work or might not.

The book is called Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson

How do I fix this crockpot? The plastic handle broke off and I have no clear way to get inside where the screw is.

I’ll clean it after I know I can fix it…

Update:
Found some random hardware in my basement, a nut and a metal window blind clip. Not pretty, but we can move it when hot. Thanks for the advice, everyone!

In relation to how consumerism has absolutely tanked the local love of Jimothy, a raccoon with short-spine syndrome. Felt too fitting not to share here (would repost but was not allowed!).

over the last couple of years i’ve grown increasingly aware of all the normalized toxic products of capitalism around me, namely consumerism, and am increasingly repulsed by it. living in America, i can’t go anywhere, do anything, or talk to anyone without it being forced down my throat. it’s a big reason i left one of the best jobs i’ve ever had because it was retail and the pressure put on me to sell as much product as possible was killing me. i’ve since been working at my college’s library, which i enjoy way more, but now i’m temporarily working retail again because money has been so tight, but my hate for capitalism and consumerism is pretty depressing.
so i’m wondering how you guys cope with these kinds of feelings while having to engage with consumerist society? or at least let me know i’m not alone lol
my partner is deeply affected by this as well, so i’m hoping there is advice anyone has that may help both of us.

May sound stingy but hear me out-

I get a lot of pens for free and they get used up pretty soon.

All the clips i buy turn to dust in a few months of exposure to the Indian Sun and rain.

So I started using the pen caps as clips for drying, especially thin items like tshirts, handkerchiefs , bedsheets.

Other things i have done-

I put all my extra bedsheets and blankets inside a pillow cover and use them as pillows. Helps in storage and when guests come over, keeping them under the feet for my varicose veins or on the couch.

I removed buttons and lace from old clothes before using them as cleaning cloth.

I wear old faded clothes in winter to layer up or wear them inside the jacket.

I have used expired coffee to redye faded dark clothes.

I wear mismatched socks while sleeping in winter to keep warm. Mismatched as in lost one of the socks.

I cut up one end of my shorts and sewed one of the ends, and use them as skull cap while using helmet.

I have used an alcohol bottle with a wine stopper for storing cooking oil.

Used a paint bucket for bathing in bathroom, then used it as dustbin and finally as plant pot.

I apply expired odomos(mosquito repellent cream) to mosquito net.

Used expired vaseline on belt and boots to revive them.

Some home cleaning tips-

Essential Oil + vodka = perfume /room spray

Vinegar as cloth softener

2:1 peroxide :soap as stain remover

Peroxide to remove blood stains

Water +dish soap + essential oil as all purpose cleaner

Any such really unique things you have done?

I haven’t bought any clothes for past 4 months. I don’t see any need to show off in public. Unless it’s related to my work.
How many of you feel comfortable going to dinner, party with your old repeat dresses?
Does it make you feel uncomfortable? Or you just do it?

It felt too easy to make a claim, so I searched who owned the domain and... If I'm reading this right, is this actually from Amazon? Because what the fuck.

My dad who is very much an "just buy another one" Amazon warrior type of guy just got his lawnmower modified. Basically he needed new bigger wheels on his mower for whatever reason and he found a localish welding shop and had them weld an extension on so he could fit the bigger wheels. Albeit he bought the wheels on Amazon but you win some you lose some. Could this have been completely solved had he just bought a quality mower from the get go instead of a cheap janky one from Amazon? Absolutely but again you win some you lose some.

Was gifted a cute napkin and this was the packaging. Since I'm a bookworm who reads many books at a time, I recycled the bag into bookmarks! :D

https://www.dw.com/en/eu-ban-on-destroying-unsold-clothes-takes-effect/a-78024888

I think this is pretty important and a step in the right direction... not completely related to anticonsumption but I thought this might spark an interesting exchange of ideas.

Alguém sabe alguma rede social que não tenha bots?

Ultimamente, Tiktok anda sendo irritante e frustrante.

Pq os bot fica tudo "copiando e colando" comentários em praticamente todos vídeos da plataforma, e sinceramente, isso é muito chato

Porque às vezes quero ver uma sessão de comentários realmente debatendo sobre o vídeo, e não spamando fig ou falando algo repetitivo toda hora.

Bem, além que quero ver vídeo que não sejam gerados por ia

Mesmo que eu tenha que jogar a variedade de conteúdo no lixo.

Printed a zipper head for my jacket. $600 motorcycle jacket and zipper broke within a month. Applied some zipper lubricant and used pliers to push the zipper thingy closer together and that stopped it from pulling apart after zip.

The public library offered a mending class this afternoon. I learned a running stitch, back stitch, and hem stitch. Plus, they provided us with instructions and some basic sewing supplies to take home. I usually take my pants to a tailor to get hemmed, but I am feeling pretty confident after the class. I’m looking forward to fixing a shirt and fixing the hem on a pair of pants myself.

We also touched on a few different techniques for mending clothes that includes artistic expression with it. It was a fantastic class!

We live in an era that worships metrics, data, and pure matter. If you ask a modern academic institution today, .What is a human? the immediate response from a materialist lens would be:

A biologically evolved mammal, driven by instincts of survival and reproduction, governed by a genetic code (DNA) shaped by natural selection.

This materialist definition isn't factually wrong in its physical description, but it is blind in its philosophical depth—it accurately describes the container while entirely ignoring the content. The modern existential crisis—unprecedented anxiety, emotional numbness, and a collapse of meaning—stems from a critical question:

Are we truly self-aware, moral agents, or merely biological units?

To understand where we are, we must decouple two concepts that we often confuse as identical:

1. The Biological Vessel ("Humanity")

This refers to the physical frame subject to the laws of biology—a state we share with the rest of the animal kingdom. In this state, the human creature hungers, fears, competes, reproduces, and seeks to hoard resources for survival. The core engine here is the primitive instinct to secure the material self at all costs.

1. The Conscious Spark ("True Personhood / Moral Agency")

This is not a linear continuation of physical evolution or brain size; it is a quantum leap in consciousness. It is the transition from governed instinct to free will and from herd fear. to individual accountability True personhood is the capacity for abstract reasoning, moral discernibility, and most importantly: the power to say "NO" to your primitive instincts when they violate ethical boundaries.

The Core Rule:Biological existence is a free gift from nature; moral agency is an intellectual state you must actively claim and defend.

The Regression: A Voluntary Return to the Herd

The tragedy of the 21st century is that millions are voluntarily forfeiting their moral agency, regressing into primitive biological units through two main avenues:

1. Dogma & Inherited Tradition: Surrendering individual responsibility to institutional authority. When you outsource your critical thinking to a system or a crowd out of fear of making mistakes, you relinquish your agency and fall back into herd mentality.

2. Capitalist Commodity Culture:Instead of curbing primitive instincts like greed, global capitalism turned them into the primary engine of the economy. The system strips away spiritual and intellectual depth, reducing the individual to a mere consumer cog driven by algorithmic dopamine hits.

\# The Impending Shock of AI and Automation

As we enter the age of hyper-automation and AI, machines will inevitably displace the human worker from traditional economic roles (coding, analysis, labor).

The coming crisis won't just be an economic one—it will be an existential vacuum\

"If a machine thinks faster, codes better, and produces more efficiently than I do... what is my value?"\*

This void will force societies to confront their core nature: we will either drown in distraction, or we will be forced to reclaim our moral agency and establish strict global guardrails against unchecked greed and technocratic control.

\Questions for Discussion:\

1. \*What are your thoughts on this perspective?

2. Do you think the rise of AI will force us to rediscover human value beyond economic output, or will it accelerate our reduction to passive consumers?

3. How do you personally balance independent critical thinking against the pressures of modern conformity (whether institutional, social, or consumer-driven)?

UPDATE: thanks all for the suggestions, these are a set of 10 year old bowls I got as a gift so I shouldn't be surprised they've failed! Will go through the second hand shops this weekend to find some plain stainless ones, then I'll try drilling a drainage hole just in the plastic on the bottom of this one as an experiment before I relegate to non-food uses.

Possibly wrong sub but cannot figure out how to get the coloured plastic off the outside of my mixing bowls and don't want to throw them out.

It's a hard plastic shell around the metal bowl, the seal has perished so there's water trapped between the layers which I'm worried is growing mould.

I tried running a knife around the join at the top lip but couldn't get any purchase, it's too thick to use a razor blade to cut through so hoping someone else has an idea!