Shopping malls pervade our everyday lives and are constant fixtures of urban landscapes from Toronto to Tel Aviv. They lure customers with their dazzling window displays brimming with the must-haves of the moment, and are places where outings with friends, family and dates are made. As we step into this world of consumerism, the reality of the outside world fades to a distant memory.

Yet as appetible as their sale signs and creative entertainment activities may be, shopping malls have merely become places of illusory escape, and with the economic recession now in full swing, these consumeristic havens have paled to mere shadows of their former glory.

As monumental malls gradually began to alter skylines across the world, from the Mall of America in Minnesota, USA, to the Golden Resources Mall in Beijing, it became harder and harder for people not to treat shopping malls as their getaway card. With these supersized malls housing indoor amusement parks, swimming pools, aquariums, and hundreds of different stores, consumers had become addicted to a world of constant and excessive shopping. According to The Shulman Center, in 2006 alone, there were approximately 17 million Americans who qualified as excessive shoppers, and many of these had accumulated a staggering credit card debt which amounted to $10, 000/£7,000 per shopper.

Prior to the credit crunch, the frenzied shopping trend was at an all time high, the not-to-be-missed bargains and wild entertainment facilities encouraging risky spending habits whilst failing to provide consumers’ minds with anything mildly stimulating. According to WebMD, not only can malls fuel financial problems such as those we are currently facing, but they can also put a large amount of stress on interpersonal relationships with family and loved ones. Consumers should be weary of falling into the trap of purchasing unnecessary items or of only relaxing in the inner depths of a mall where social interaction is limited.

So as you start tightening your purse strings, ditch those fruitless walks through the now-empty temples of consumerism and immerse yourselves in nature; cultivate an outdoor lifestyle and your interests. Forget those illusions and escape the materialistic chains that were holding you down–it’s time to start afresh.

Image courtesy of Klynsis