When I was younger, and even until this day, my parents have always told me that I have an old soul. I definitely agree with them because even though technology might be really useful and convenient, I always wish I could’ve experienced my life without it. I am the type of person who prefers riding my bike into town during the summer, just walk around shops, never actually purchasing anything, to just enjoy my time outside. Thats why I was really excited for this experiment.

For my scrolling experiment, I realized that I needed to buy some art supplies that I was running low on, as well as a box to carry my supplies in. I immediately opened the Amazon app on my phone and began to scroll through my search of the specific art supplies I was looking for. It was very easy for me to find these items but I spent almost 2 hours trying to find the cheapest versions of these items. This actually made my experience very stressful because I was never satisfied with the price of my items. I had a bit of a different experience when searching for the art box online. I had a very specific image in mind of what I wanted, however, I am convinced that this design does not exist. Therefore, since I was shopping online, I had assumed that I could find it somewhere and spent hours looking to find nothing of the sort. Overall, my experience was okay at first, but eventually stressed me out too much and I had to stop.

For my browsing experiment, I was actually unable to go shopping until this Sunday because I had sprained my ankle unexpectedly. However, I had the perfect opportunity to document my experience from the honors trip to NYC. My friend Donnie and I had two goals during this trip: 1)Have the best day ever and 2)Find some sort of unreasonably large stuffed animal to comically bring back on the bus with us. To fulfill these goals, we went to many different places all over the city. Many of them, like the Disney Store, Line Friends, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Kinokuniya were way too expensive to actually purchase anything from, so we just enjoyed looking at all the cool things that we were really tempted to buy. I think that this really added to my positive experience because just looking at all of the cool items in the store was satisfying enough. (The price tags definitely prevented me from spending more than I did). But soon enough, we encountered a really small store called the, “Toy Store” and we did some browsing for funny and large stuffed animals. Most of the larger stuffed animals were over $70 and we immediately knew we weren’t going to be purchasing anything there. However, my favorite experience in this store was finding a really questionable looking Thor plushie. It was so unexpected that I burst out laughing and got yelled at in the store. I proceeded to run out the front door and down the street with my friend, laughing the entire way. This is one of my favorite memories from this trip. However, that isn’t all. I am also highly tempted by all of the street vendors that I make an effort to stop at every vendor to make them feel better about their artwork. Most of the pieces these artists made were already collecting in my room back home so I knew I shouldn’t purchase any. However, I found these handmade wire figures that were stunning to look at. I spent almost an hour at his stand just contemplating whether or not I wanted to spend $40 on a dragon and I caved. I have a very soft spot for cool decorations, but also posters, so I did end up buying some cool posters as well. Overall, I had an amazing day and barely stressed at all.

After completing both of these experiments, I can say that there are pros and cons to both browsing and scrolling. I definitely prefer browsing over scrolling any day, in hopes that I may have another story like the Thor one. However, I am a very busy person, who barely has enough time to complete homework, so how could I find the time to make it to these stores to just browse? I enjoy having the option to shop online when I need something urgently and cannot walk to the store to buy it. Especially because walking takes a while and I am not allowed to have my car on campus yet, so it is very inconvenient for me to shop in person. Also, when scrolling, it is much easier to find exactly what you’re looking for. I also notice that depending on what I am purchasing, I pay more attention to the money I spend online rather than the amount I spend in person. However, if I am shopping for clothes online, I do find myself spending more money than I plan on spending. When shopping in person, if I am paying with cash, I am very conscious of how much money I am spending, but when using a credit card, the black hole of overspending money starts to form. I noticed that while in the city I was tempted my many cheaper items that added up a bit, but I was still avoiding the more expensive items. (Something about physical price tags scares me). I also think that when shopping in person, I had lower expectations of finding anything specific and enjoyed the randomness that followed. But with online shopping, I stressed myself out way too much over trivial details I wanted on my art box. Overall, I just think that shopping in person is much more personable, unique and enjoyable than shopping online.

Now enjoy some pictures of the items mentioned in my trip!

Browsing V.S. Scrolling