Erasing the Regifting Taboo -- WSJ

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Consumption is a word used to describe acts of acquisition – generally, the acquisition of things, in exchange for money.

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Unconsumption means the accomplishment of properly recycling your old cellphone, rather than the guilt of letting it sit in a drawer.

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Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a service like Freecycle (or Craigslist, Goodwill, or Salvation Army) to find a new home for the functioning DVD player you just replaced, rather than throwing it in the garbage.

Unconsumption means enjoying the things you own to the fullest – not just at the moment of acquisition.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a pair of sneakers until they are truly worn out – as opposed to the nagging feeling of defeat when they simply go out of style.

Unconsumption means feeling good about the simple act of turning off the lights when you leave the room.

Unconsumption is not about the rejection of things, or the demonization of things. It’s not a bunch of rules.

Unconsumption is an idea, a set of behaviors, a way of thinking about consumption itself from a new perspective.

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11:39 am - Wed, May 16, 2012: 17 notes

Erasing the Regifting Taboo -- WSJ

Did you know there is a National Regifting Day? It’s December 20, 2012. Regifting seems like a perfectly rational way to direct something you don’t really want to someone who might appreciate it. But it has a bad rep.

This Wall Street Journal writeup reports on research that might help shift attitudes about regifting:

Regifting is often presented as synonymous with tackiness, but the taboo on the practice is partly the result of a misunderstanding: Recipients of gifts think the givers are far more offended by regifting than they truly are. Givers assume that they’ve passed on “title” to the gift and that recipients can do what they wish with it. Receivers, meanwhile, feel constrained by the giver’s original wishes.

Researchers recently demonstrated this disconnect through a series of experiments involving hypothetical and real-world scenarios. …

The taboo against regifting was considerably weakened when researchers — Gabrielle S. Adams, of London Business School, Francis J. Flynn, of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Michael I. Norton, of Harvard Business School — introducing the idea of National Regifting Day (which really exists but has little traction).

Hypothetical gift recipients who were informed about that holiday altered their judgment of regifting to the point where it matched that of givers….

Unless or until National Regifting Day catches on, the authors suggest givers “encourage receivers to use their gifts as they please …” — including you-know-what.

The whole piece is here.