No, this isn’t one of those “who/what would you take with you” posts
No, I’m asking you to imagine this situation: You’re unfortunately stranded on a desert island, all by yourself. You know that the chances of you being found are highly remote (for whatever reasons), and you resign yourself to a long stay on that island. Somehow, you manage to survive, living off the land using basic survival skills that you picked up at Boy Scouts, or whatever. Then one day, 5 years later, you are miraculously rescued and brought home.
Would you now place more or less importance on the “material” things that life today affords us?
Purely hypothetical, I know. I think they’d have less importance in my life.
Hmmm… I wonder though. One one hand, the loss of all normal personal belongings may make one realize the lack of their need. However on the other, the loss of all normal personal belongings may make one value their personal belongings more.
I suppose its chalked up to “you would have to be there”.
Since “stuff” isn’t nearly as important to me now as it used to be, and I’m not even on a desert island, it would become practically meaningless to me after five years as a castaway.
I dunno. Such an experience might cause one to develop a greatly deepened appreciation for such things as running hot and cold water (“Yes! Now I can take a shower!”), air conditioning (“Wow, it’s really hot outside, but I’m still cool and comfortable!”), refrigeration and preservatives (“Food that hasn’t gone off! Fresh food no matter what season it is!”), and electric lights (“Hey, it’s pitch black outside, but I can still do stuff!”).
Knowing the way that I am I would probably file the whole experience in the “former ways” file and go back to living the way I am now. It might take me a month or so to get all the way back to normal though.
I may develop a more intense packratism then I have now.
I think I can be pretty sure of my reaction. I got sick in 1996 and won’t get well. It’s amazing how my priorities have changed as a result. I’ll have to go with material things wouldn’t be very important at all.
It’s not that I need a lot of stuff, it’s just that I couldn’t get myself to donate all this stuff I have bought years ago. I have a whole bunch of shirts that are still unused, but I don’t need to wear shirts often to go to work, so there’s still a pile. sigh
I’m basing my reasoning on how I’ve felt after returning from treks and more remote situations. At first, everything would be very novel and extremely important. However, you’d quickly go back to using everything as normal. There may be times when you’d find you can easily go without something, or simply forget about a convenience, but you wouldn’t start avoiding material comforts deliberately.
Having gone on treks where the only things we had were the stuff on our backs and/or what the horses could carry… I’d say about the same.
The first few days back I spent hours in the bath followed by hours of sitting in front of the TV with a case of cola and a huge bag of gummy bears… but the novelty soon wore off and I went to life as usual.
As MEBuckner said, I think the biggest change would be a much greater appreciation for really basic technologies that we all take for granted - hot and cold running water, a/c and central heating, electric lights, telephones, cotton fabrics, etc. “Material” things like electronic toys or fashion accessories wouldn’t rank as high in importance as previously, for most people.
One would also probably have a greater appreciation for the value of human contact.
I’d definitely become more materialistic about certain things. For example, the first thing I’d do is run out and buy a couple of cases of beer and a few dozen buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken (original recipe, not that crispy junk) - and I’d kill anybody that tried to mooch any of it away from me.
I think that after say 5 years there’d be some things that I’d just miss hardcore (internet, a cold beer)and I’d be a little fanatic about after my return, but by and large I think I’d be quite happy with a very simple life afterwards.
If I can have sunblock and lip balm whilst stranded, then I would be ok. I could handle the solitude and lack of technology ( after a severe withdrawl) but freckles, chapped lips and sun damage will not due.
Once home, after the joys of indoor plumbing ( *flush…flush) and the thrill of a 24 hour Mega-lomart wore off, I would probably spend more time doing the things I missed like hell when on the island.
Bookstores, movies, catching up on the news, seeing friends. Going to a class reunion ( “What about Me? Well, I was stranded on an island for five years, no really…” )
