The commodification of experiences and the consumption of reality. How the media and the new economy are changing the perception of the world

Abstract

In a world aspiring to innovation and re-discussion of our lifestyles, can experience seen as education, learning, slow-training, still be decisive as it was in the past? This is the issue tackled in the following paragraphs. The article is inspired by the debate launched by the work of Pine and Gilmore, pioneers of a branch of the new economy that focuses the attention on experience. The premise of this new discipline, also called experience economy, is that experience can be produced and consumed. The consumers, who have now satisfied most of their basic needs, don’t aspire any longer to satisfy material desires. They want to live and go through special and unforgettable experiences. Following the path traced by the two American scholars, a whole flourishing of studies has developed, aiming at understanding the emotional drivers of experience. These studies prescribe techniques which «dazzle the senses» and «strike the heart». However, these techniques run the risk of overshadowing the perceptions of the subject, worsening a process of de-personalization that has already been going on for several centuries. Starting from these reflections, the article proposes a brief history of experience in order to investigate its original function and how it evolved up to our time. The goal is to focus on certain orientations of contemporary society in order to stimulate a critical debate that takes advantage of its opportunities and contradictions.