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How Buying Football Shirts Can Become An Addiction: A Thread.
- Including ways to help and prevent.
If it's easier to read in a PDF format, instead of individual tweets, here's the link: https://www.yumpu.com/s/AZ4WEz3CTcq6OyVm
- Including ways to help and prevent.
If it's easier to read in a PDF format, instead of individual tweets, here's the link: https://www.yumpu.com/s/AZ4WEz3CTcq6OyVm
This article isn't to discourage buying football shirts - it's a great lockdown hobby - but instead to make clear how things can get out of control if you take your eye off the ball, or lose track of purchases.
1. Simply, things are addictive because they feel good, which includes the excitement of finding a good deal, the adrenaline of a last minute bid on Ebay, and the expectation as the parcel arrives. Therefore, you want more of that feeling. 1/22
When buying Football shirts, however, it’s not actually always about the shirt. It’s not unusual for a shirt to be unpackaged and consigned to a drawer, never to be worn or looked at. The real addition comes from the purchasing - 2/22
– you may buy a fantastic shirt, yet you’ll still want more afterwards. The addictive part is finding a deal which everyone else has missed, pipping someone at the line for a bargain bid, and rushing to the door as the doorbell rings. 3/22
In reality, the shirt can sometimes be underwhelming, due to the high of the purchasing phase, therefore, once it arrives, you’re already searching for the buzz again. 4/22 //
2. Another factor is that there is no completion, as the number of shirts available is practically limitless. You can set challenges, e.g. collecting every Premier League winning shirt, yet there are still other shirts – no satisfaction. 5/22
There will always be shirts that you don’t have, and it can be difficult to step back and look at your collection and say, ‘That’s all I want.’ People buy their grail shirt (most sought after shirt), yet continue to collect afterwards. 6/22
After every purchase, you might see another shirt online, and thing, ‘ooh that’s nice’, but after that purchase, the same will happen. You may wear them once or twice, but you’ll always want another one. 7/22 //
3. Lots of people have started collecting in the lockdown – some giving themselves challenges to try and create a sense of purpose for the collection, others however, just through boredom. With everyone having more spare hours a day, what do you do? 8/22
Browse through football shirt – their design, uniqueness, and flamboyancy makes it a joy to just scroll; the problem comes when you start buying shirts, having had no intention of doing so when logging on, buying on a whim because you quite like it, and the price is good. 9/22 //
4. Lastly is the fear of missing out (FOMO), which is huge, especially for those who are a part of the Twitter community. There’s a new, ‘too good to miss’, bargain on a current season shirt – everyone seems to be buying it, why wouldn’t you? 10/22
There’s limited stock, so if you don’t buy now, you’ll never get the shirt – now you’re maybe £25 worse off, but with a brand new shirt… which, in all honesty, you didn’t really want. The problem really comes when this happens multiple times a month. 11/22
Buying multiple shirts, that you don’t really want, just because you don’t want others to get it instead of you, for a seemingly small sum of money, is a quick way to getting into a spot of bother. 12/22
Just remember, you don’t have to buy a shirt in every deal, especially if the shirt has only been brought to your attention because of the reduced price, and up until that moment, you had absolutely no intention of buying it, or even no knowledge of the shirt. 13/22 //
1. The single best way to both prevent and stop an addiction, is by setting a limit and by NOT GOING OVER the limit you have set. The limit can be number of shirts, or amount of money (or both), but I recommend a monthly limit. 14/22
This can make it even more enjoyable, forcing you to find an absolute bargain on a shirt you really want, or challenging yourself to how many shirts you can buy for the budget. Importantly, make the limit sensible and within your means! 15/22 //
2. Set a to-buy list. You can change / update this list every year, every month, or just set it for a drop, but DON’T BUY anything not on the list. E.g you can say that for March, these are the only four shirts I might buy, or for an upcoming drop saying, 16/22
I won’t buy anything unless it’s one of these shirts, or even setting yourself a wishlist at the beginning of the season, and only buying these shirts. What all these tactics do is eliminate buying for the fomo and make sure you only buy shirts that you actually want. 17/22 //
DO NOT BUY a shirt if you are contemplating if you should buy it or not - this is FOMO. When you’re contemplating, it’s almost always because you’ve seen a deal for a shirt you previously had no intention on buying, but it’s a good price. Only buy if you genuinely want it. 18/
Lastly, the answer may well be to get off the football shirt Twitter community. It’s a fantastic community where people come together to share a common interest, and has been helpful to so many in lockdown, however, it can be dangerous. 19/22
It’s filled with people showcasing their new shirts, perhaps putting pressure on you to buy shirts too. It’s also filled with people selling shirts, and so many brilliant bargains. 20/22
Perhaps by not knowing when the latest drop is, not seeing the latest deals, and not being exposed to wacky and wonderful shirts you’ve never seen before, you will only buy the shirts that you really, really want! 21/22 //
I hope this article / thread has been helpful in opening your eyes to how fast something can get out of control, and encourage you to keep collecting, but to keep a close eye on purchases, and sometimes step away, and take an outside look. 22/22
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