The anti-consumption journey: Unplugging for improved well-being

Abstract

Consumers are exploring ways to obtain control and limit their existing consumption levels in response to growing concerns about well-being. This article introduces the anti-consumption journey, which extends prior work on journey mapping, by evaluating the distinct journey when the goal is not to consume. Within the context of the “digital detox,” we use a hermeneutic approach to analyze qualitative data from blog posts by digital detox consumers, survey data from a digital detox retreat, and interviews with digital detox service providers. We highlight an emergent model of the facilitators and inhibitors consumers encounter throughout the anti-consumption journey. This novel roadmap offers insights to further understand tensions between a consumer's subjective state of agency and culturally embedded assumptions of technology consumption. Theoretical and practitioner implications are discussed.