The Pew Internet & American life project says that about 30% of you are here for no real reason, so I’m here to give your Internet time some purpose. You know that nice feeling you get when you’ve decided you can afford something for yourself, you take a little time comparison shopping, and finally make the purchase? Isn’t it fun to take the item home, and if it’s clothing – try it on again – without the tags, or if it’s a new gizmo, mutter profanities about the bubble pack and maybe draw blood opening it, but then get down to playing with your new toy? It’s really a good feeling isn’t it? It can actually be very calming and gratifying. Well, it may just be the dopamine talking, but who cares? It feels good. And thanks to the wonders of the Internet, you don’t even need to move from exactly where you are right now to get this wonderful set of feelings. That little search tool below? It lets you explore all sorts of products, without leaving this page, and when you see something you like, just click on it, give the invisible Amazon Elves some magic numbers, and within a few days, voila! It’s delivered right to your door. Of course, before you engage in this kind of behavior (continued below)

you should make sure you’re not some kind of Oniomaniac. You can take a quiz to measure your Oniomania , and there’s support if it turns out you are indeed afflicted. I personally scored 13 out of 15, but the quiz had tricky questions like “Are you unable to resist a sale or bargain?” or “Do you get a high from shopping?”. I mean c’mon. Who can, and who doesn’t, right? This doesn’t mean we have a problem. Except the one that any shopper has at the beginning of the buying cycle, i.e.: Problem Recognition. And we recognize the problem, which is that we need to buy something. So go ahead. Do a little “Retail Therapy” right here and now. You’ll feel better.

Where are you in the buying cycle at this very moment?