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.