We know the value of the expiration date from groceries and medicines, at least we think we do.The expiration date marks the last date, on which the consumption of perishable goods is safe. Considering that consumption after that day may be hazardous to our health, we tend to give it the attention that it deserves.

Over the years marketing has been very successful in convincing us that all products have an expiration date. Actually 'classical conditioning' is a better word than 'convincing'. More and more frequently, I wonder why the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov used dogs in his experiments.

In today's consumerist society, all products have to be perishable to ensure continued growth: shoes, smart phones, computers, cars, you name it. The shelf life is not determined by health considerations anymore, but by the purchasing prices. We can buy a smart phone more often than a car, hence the shelf life of the latter is longer.

 Marketing makes us believe that consumption makes us feel good, thereby insinuating that it is good for our health as well. After all, it is difficult to argue that feeling good is detrimental to your health. Not only that, in a subtle way we are being conditioned to believe that using a product, which is beyond its shelf life, makes us outdated as well.

So we effectively behave like hamsters:

The hamster runs in his exercising wheel and we consume in our consumption wheel. But the difference is that the hamster stops running when he is tired, whereas many of us will prefer to get into debt before stopping consumption.

Getting into debt ultimately means loosing our financial independence, our freedom. What's so healthy about that?