[Opinion Editorial] The Collection-Buying Curse of the Modern Day Society

By: Omar A., Grade 11

Most of those who enjoy indulging in any form of media, such as movies, books, games, maybe even puzzles or large posters, stamps, figurines, and so on, often tend to have one type of problem: overspending. I am not a finance expert, nor do I qualify to judge anything financial except maybe the inherent savings advantage of the Wendy’s $6 Biggie Bag combo deal, yet I don’t think I am reckless enough to not acknowledge that problem within myself and some other folk. 

I admit: I am not perfect. I can sometimes do…unreasonable purchases, such as purchasing those super nice Witcher book hardcovers which in total cost an arm and a leg and don’t deviate at all from the prose present in the paperbacks or library copies; or spending $60 on a brand new, fresh-from-the-Sony-factory Playstation video game. But, I guess the positive thing in the end is that I can guess that I am not making the best decisions with the money I am granted from wherever. 

However, that line of acknowledgment could wildly shift through exposure to others. If the average BookTuber or BookToker or if you best friend’s dog’s babysitter’s cousin’s therapist’s marriage counselor who has experienced the art of collecting a copious amount of picture books about Libyangoats that could fill all the shelf space within the Palo Alto City Library system, some feeling of hobbyistic inadequacy could creep in. Ughh why isn’t my shelf so full that I could color-code my books based on spine color and have it look smooth and accurate?! 

Yes, some portion of that was a complete and utter exaggeration from my part, but much of my problem is comparison here. It might not be the only cause — I’m sure there are still so many other, just-as-prevalent factors out there, but it's such a strong motivator. After all, motivation is the thief of joy…and money…I guess…. Humans just function in this kill-or-be-killed way in so many situations, however, nowadays that nature has been twisted to predominantly be a detriment to the collector. Collect more or have more collected than you. Unfortunately, this ten year old mentality persists. 

But what is great is that this applies to so many different situations. People who enjoy all sorts of collecting, and it's such a common joke factor (‘oh guys, I just had to get my hands on this incredible fifteen-volume French movie blu-ray set and the ten spin-off novels to add to my bookshelves. You guys know that I simply just can’t stop buying movies and books! Hahaha!”). I am all for sarcastic comments, as may have been somewhat present, but still, it’s one of those things that once you think about could be such an avoidable problem. The various people who also want to have book hauls, and those guys making book hauls that they post which also motivate others to book haul. (I might be using books as an example here a lot, but, again, much of what I am saying could be interchanged with whatever collection.) 

It’s not wrong to buy books, or to sometimes splurge to get a nice, pristine copy of a book, movie, or game that you often revisit, that means a lot to you. But buying everything — assuming that such things often cost anywhere from twenty bucks to forty books, not only the quantity of the sheer collection, which in most situations severely outpaces the rate of those materials being read, but the cost as well are hard to not be a clear problem here. Twenty becomes forty, becomes sixty, then eighty, a hundred, a hundred-and-thirty and so on. Even small purchases, piled up, could hit the strongest bodybuilder (book-buyin’ addict) like an avalanche of anvils (so proud of that; I made it on the spot); 

But regardless, this is completely a side effect of this capitalist enamoration with the book buyin’ atmosphere or aesthetic. In a sense, it is cooler to own books than to…well, actually read them. Everyone loves that cozy book-buying experience, browsing the shelf filled with all genres of books. But that experience doesn’t fundamentally change the book or how you might feel about it at the end — assuming that you are judging books based on the book themselves, hopefully, not the place you got it from. 

Like if I say “book store,” you might think of a Barnes & Noble or some chic small shop with wooden shelves and cream-colored walls. And fundamentally that’s okay since I am sure a good majority of book stores would look something very close to that, or with maybe dark brown walls. But, it's intentionally got a very pleasing image and seems like a clean, quiet spot for Peaceful and Comforting Reading. That would inspire someone to maybe go in, pick up a book or two — or at least spend some time getting to choose what it is that they actually want. Holding and flipping through the books, feeling the wind pushed towards your face by opening it; that could help inspire purchasing, and eventually unnecessary ones 

On the other hand, the digital sphere simply couldn’t get any more convenient. If I could go onto Amazon, and find any paperback and hardback discounted by such an egregiously impossible percentage and find it at your doorstep within the week, sometimes even with the same day (!), the barrier to purchase easily crumbles into dust. This applies to physical books. 

A minor exception would be e-books, for example, because the barrier of entry is buying an e-ink device, which could be so costly upfront that some might not even want to pay for it and perhaps later on save on books by utilizing the already-lower price of ebooks (which seems to be unfortunately changing for the worse slowly) or the daily deals that are usually present for the most popular of books to the most disturbing romance reads. But, still, both ways, people could unnecessarily splurge when they don’t need to or when they haven’t even read everything they own yet. 

I guess overall, the idea of just excessive book buying to seem like a cool constant reader or just to feel smart for owning them is flawed and weirdly present particularly in the social media sphere with the book hauls and collection completions and recommendations. Those are really amplified by the accessibility of modern book purchasing, whether digitally or physically.