Many of us have joked about using retail therapy and booze to get through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
But it looks like that may not be a joke at all.
In a March survey from Rehabs.com, a directory of addiction centers across the United States, people are admitting to “emotional spending” — buying something you might not necessarily need in order to ease your emotions, as Rehabs puts it in an emailed news release. And thanks to isolation, health concerns, financial worries and frazzled family members during our various stages of lockdown over the past year, it makes sense that we’ve turned to easy dopamine comforts.
We’re doing a lot of that here in Ohio, apparently. According to the survey, 66% of Ohioans — or two out of three — say that they’ve chased the shopping high as a distraction during the pandemic. The national average is 51%, Rehabs says, so we’ve apparently had a rough go of things in the Buckeye State.
But people in states that border Ohio are struggling, too: 47% of Pennsylvanians, 53% of Michiganders and 56% of Kentuckians say they’re emotional spenders.
And our friends in West Virginia could use a little extra love, as 80% of them say they’ve emotionally spent money during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s the highest in the country.
The news becomes even worse for what we spend money on and when. According to the Rehabs survey, 30% of everyone surveyed have bought alcohol that’s more luxurious than what they typically imbibe. Alcohol makes it less likely that you’ll make good decisions, so it’s no surprise that 15% say they’ve shopped while drunk.
We’re heading to online stores even without the haze of alcohol, it seems, as 21% of respondents admit to shopping specifically to cheer themselves up. 32% tend to go on buying sprees when they feel especially low, and 45% say they’ve spent more money shopping online directly because of the pandemic.
For its data, Rehabs conducted the survey among 3,040 Americans in March. For more information, visit rehabs.com.
And if you do feel like chasing the dopamine high in a constructive way, why not spend your money on Cincinnati food and drink, shops and services, or cultural experiences? See all of our recommendations in our Best of Cincinnati 2021 issue.
