When All Else Fails, Shop?

By
Alan Noble
 – June 10, 2010
windowshopping

It’s Saturday afternoon. In the morning, my wife and I tidied up the house a bit and did some laundry. I took the dog out. She took a jog. I read a novel for an hour and she crocheted. We ate lunch, did the dishes, and then sat down to check Facebook. All week we had been in and out of the house, running errands, working, going to school. It should have felt nice to have nothing “to do,” to be at home for once with no where to go. But, we both felt it. I showed the first signs by snapping at Brittany when she asked me what I was reading online and if it was interesting, but I could tell from her question that she felt the same way. We had to get out. We were going stir crazy. Our apartment was just too small and we had grown too used to being around other people at work and school. Staying home all day was making us depressed and cranky. If this was the fall or spring, we could go for a nice stroll or maybe a hike, but summer in Southern California means soul-melting heat. So we considered our options.

Target? Do we need anything from Target? Maybe we could just, you know, walk around and see if there are any little household items we might need to buy. Did you say you needed socks or something? Or there’s the Mall. We could always just walk around the mall looking at some of the stores. And so we get into the car, drive over to Target, and spend the evening walking around the store talking and shopping.

I wish I could say that we only rarely went window shopping for entertainment, but it’s been a habit of mine for a long time now, one I’ve only just begun to break in the last few years. Shopping centers are, after all, designed to make you feel comfortable, safe, and happy. It is in their best interest to make you feel like shopping is fun, a form of entertainment equal to or greater than the pleasure and entertainment you will receive from the things you buy when you shop. But is window shopping an edifying way for Christians to spend their time?

At Christ and Pop Culture, we try to encourage believers to critically examine the popular culture around them in order to approve of and enjoy what is good and to be more aware of the way our culture shapes us. Just as we must be thoughtful in the way we watch TV or play video games, we also should be conscientious about other cultural activities we do and how they shape our identities. When we view window shopping or hanging out in the mall as a form of entertainment, this can have an affect on how we define ourselves and what we conceive of as the good life.

By making a habit of going to stores in order to hang out with my wife, I am treating the store not as a means to an end–a place to go to get products which I will use to serve some purpose–but as an end to itself. The experience of shopping (walking the aisles, looking at new and interesting products, imagining the potential pleasure of owning these things) becomes the point of shopping. And this can have several implications.

If I conceive of the experience of shopping as the goal of shopping then I am on the way to accepting consumerism. Certainly you can hate shopping and still think of yourself as a consumer, a materialist who views the stockpiling of products as a way to stave off death, sadness, loneliness, and boredom. But if shopping or window shopping becomes a regular activity you enjoy to avoid boredom and to have fun, then you have probably begun to think of the acquisition of goods as a central purpose of your life, as a way to feel content and fulfilled, as a fundamental part of your identity. The critical shift here is that when I view shopping as an end to itself, then it doesn’t really matter what I buy or if I need it or who made it. What gives me pleasure is not the product, but the act of looking at, longing for, and purchasing the product. I’m identifying myself as a consumer by seeing consumption as a form of entertainment.

But as Christians we are not first and foremost shoppers or consumers. It is a good thing to buy and enjoy something that other people have made, but that enjoyment is always tempered by the knowledge that these things are not ultimately permanent or important. Our treasure is not on Earth. If our enjoyment comes from the act of buying and consuming more goods, then we are conceiving of our ultimate peace and security here, rather than in Christ.

Let me be clear here that I am not saying that you should never enjoy shopping or that if you choose to stroll around the mall some summer afternoon that you will fall into covetousness, greed, and consumerism. Even though I’ve come to the place where I believe that it is not edifying for me or my family to regularly practice window shopping as a form of entertainment or an activity, occasionally we still will drop by Target to mull around for a bit. As with nearly everything in our faith, what we do with our family and friends for fun outside the house requires discernment and balance. For our family, what was important was that we stopped making window shopping into a habit. Instead, we’ve tried to make an effort to take walks when it is cool enough, visit the local museum, go to the gym, or invite people to our apartment. It has been our experience that these activities have helped us to grow a greater love for our neighbors and friends and has helped us to stop thinking about buying products as a way to fight boredom.


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About the Author

Alan Noble (Co-Founder/Editor) is a graduate student at Baylor University pursuing his Ph.D. in Modern American Literature. To feed himself and his wife, he teaches Freshman Composition at the university. In 2006, he graduated from Cal. State Bakersfield with a Master’s degree in English. He enjoys playing Beatles Rockband with his wife, and loves Star Wars. While not particularly good at making art of any kind, Alan has an intense interest in the arts and culture and how believers ought to interact with them to the glory of God and edification of others. Alan lives in Waco, Texas with his Math-loving wife, their 8 month old daughter Nora, and their no-longer-able-to-skateboard-because-of-an-injury English Bulldog Gertrude. Email: noble.noneuclidean [at] gmail [dot] com. Twitter: noneuclid. Xbox Live: noneuclidean