Today is a tough one for me—and the rest of the recovering shopaholics out there. I’ve been trying hard all year to keep to my New Year’s promise of not buying an unnecessary amount of clothing every time my favorite stores tempt me with a sale, and Cyber Monday is my final test. This year, I’ll be deploying one of one5c’s go-to tips: distracting myself when I feel the urge to shop. We’ve lined up a handful of distractions that can help you do the same.
If you’re like me and Cyber Monday beckons you like a siren to a weary sailor, we here at one5c have a few ideas—what Corinne likes to call the Distractatron 5000—for keeping your finger off the “buy now” button. Some are silly, some are science-y, none are just watching all the extended cuts of The Lord of the Rings movies or going on a hike (though those are good ideas, too!).
Spend some fake money: Download the Sims and spend digital dollars
This one is for the folks who need to scratch the itch to buy something shiny and new, but are fighting the urge to go berserk on Amazon. It’s not a perfect solution, but downloading The Sims 4’s (free) base game, making your virtual character a fictional billionaire, and then building the home of your dreams can fill that shopping void and provide hours of entertainment. There’s nothing like playing virtual dolls in the dollhouse of your dreams from your one-bedroom apartment, if you ask us.
Do something good: Join a climate action event
If you want to do more for the planet than just not buy stuff, today is full of opportunities to do so. Our pals at Climate Changemakers are hosting their weekly gathering of climate-minded folks in their Hour of Action, which is essentially an expert-led Zoom coworking session. On the agenda this week: locking in climate progress in the last few weeks of 2024. The Environmental Voter Project is also running a phone bank ahead of the Dec. 3 runoff election for an Atlanta At-Large City Council post—another experience-free opportunity that gets people to the polls.
Keep your hands busy: Learn a new card trick
A lot of skills need time, tools, and effort to refine—but Cyber Monday is a perfect chance to hunker down and teach yourself a distracting new skill. And we’ve got one that taps something you surely already have around the house: a deck of cards. All you need to be a step closer to being a wizard is a set of cards, a little free time, and this YouTube playlist, which steps beginners through tricks along The Royal Road to Card Magic, which is kinda the bible for getting started with mind-boggling tricks.
Get lost in nostalgia: It’s virtual pong time
The most dangerous time for Cyber Monday to sneak in can be those 10-minute windows between meetings when you start scrolling Instagram and get bombarded by ads. To keep yourself from falling down that potentially expensive rabbit hole, we suggest redirecting your attention to a fun, speedy game like Pong, and this digital version is a simple rendition of the classic 1972 game. Or, if that’s not your thing, a free game of Scrabble will easily suck up 15 minutes—and won’t leave you with a dozen packages on your front porch next week.
Hop into some science: Peer into this wild animal camera
Geeks everywhere–—from beachgoers to space fanatics—can usually find a citizen science project that helps researchers handle massive tranches of data. Some of them you can do from the couch, like this project where volunteers comb photos from a national park in Mozambique and record the species of animals they spot, which helps researchers track the growth and recovery of species like lions and impalas. If animal cams aren’t your thing, check out the government’s citizen science portal for opportunities near you and use that Cyber Monday free time to advance discovery instead of consumerism.