The Comfort Trap: How Consumerism Hijacked Our Nervous Systems and Poisoned Our Planet

Estimated reading time: ~6–7 minutes

Human beings are completely dependent on a vast, intricate system of corporations, technologies, and government infrastructure for our survival—and now, for our comfort. We no longer hunt, gather, or build our own shelter. Instead, we swipe, click, drive, and demand. We've transcended survival into a new category altogether: stimulation and relief. And that’s what most modern products are selling—moments of ease, escape, and the illusion of control.

Consumerism didn’t appear out of nowhere. It evolved over thousands of years. Ancient cities had merchants, markets, vendor carts, landlords, carpenters, sword-makers, tax collectors. Trade was not just about survival—it was how tribes kept peace. Exchanging goods and services was a civilizing act. But today, that evolution has reached a tipping point.

The system of modern consumerism has reprogrammed the human psyche. Most people have no idea where their food comes from. We’ve lost our connection to the land, to animals, to the rhythms of the earth. We bypassed the hardship of nature through innovation: agriculture, architecture, medicine, air travel, engines, electricity, surgery, computers, indoor plumbing, weapons, and energy sources. Add to that: entertainment, fashion, calendars, movie characters, AI girlfriends, holidays, telescopes taking selfies in deep space—human life has become domesticated, distracted, and disconnected.

And here’s the cost: we’ve severed the natural bond between struggle and meaning. Most of our suffering today is psychological, not physical. It’s driven by anxiety, loneliness, and disconnection—not starvation or exposure. We’re overstimulated but undernourished. Sedated but not soothed. We live in a comfort economy, but most of us aren’t even comfortable in our own minds.

To design wellness products today, I believe we need to understand human psychology—especially anxiety. We need to understand what actually calms people, not what distracts them. Yoga studios, health food stores, meditation apps—these may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but they offer a bridge to meaning. Even the smallest wellness product can give someone purpose, structure, and a path to healing—if it’s made with integrity.

Of course, there’s a sea of total bullshit out there. Supplements that do nothing. Skin creams with promises backed by fantasy. Snake oil sales didn’t die—they rebranded. In fact, some are more dangerous now because they come with regulatory loopholes, scientific-sounding names, and multi-million-dollar ad budgets. The wellness industry has been invaded by clever marketers selling placebos to desperate, anxious people. It’s cruel, and it’s a karmic disaster.

So, the question becomes: What should we actually be making? What’s missing in 2025?

Let’s start with the obvious: packaging. Single-use plastic is poisoning the planet. Microplastics are in our oceans, our soil, and now in our bloodstreams. If you don’t see this as a problem, you’re either misinformed or willfully ignorant. “Recyclable” plastic is a lie. It perpetuates the addiction to cheap, lightweight packaging. What we need is packaging that’s truly reusable, truly safe, and economically viable.

Look at cereal boxes—they use decorated, branded cardboard. No plastic. That’s a step in the right direction. Glass could be used more, but it’s expensive, heavy, and not scalable for everything. Still, if we can get glass into more homes by making it beautiful, reusable, and price-efficient, it’s worth pursuing. Step one: put the water in the shipping container at the source, bypassing trucking entirely. Step two: bottle it closer to the consumer.

Which brings me to the real holy grail: home water filtration.

The average consumer doesn’t want a giant, ugly reverse osmosis system cluttering their kitchen—and most of them don’t work well enough to justify the cost. What we need is a sleek, affordable, highly effective water system that:

1. Removes chlorine, fluoride, pharmaceuticals, and heavy metals

2. Filters out microscopic organisms and sediment

3. Adds essential minerals back into the water

4. Looks good on your counter

5. Costs under $200 and lasts for years
   

Think George Foreman Grill, but for water. Foreman didn’t sell health—he sold the idea of “grilled is better than fried,” and that was enough. We can do the same for water: sell the freedom from chemical-laced tap water and the liberation from single-use plastic.

Don't fall for the Kangen-style pseudoscience. Changing the pH of water doesn’t make it healthy. Removing the toxins makes it healthy. When you take out the industrial runoff, the pharmaceuticals, the fluoride, and the rust, the water becomes clean. The pH corrects itself. That's real science.

Let’s be honest: loving money isn’t evil. But doing anything to get it is. Selling people lies, polluting the planet, and creating products that increase anxiety rather than peace—that’s not success. That’s failure disguised as profit.

We need products that bring us back to earth, back to each other, and back to ourselves. And if we can’t design with that intention, we’re just another cog in the machine that’s slowly eating the soul of the world.