By Elisabeth Deryer

Having amassed a raging following online, with pictures of cloudy cottages and cozy landscapes propagating the adherent aesthetic, Slow Living has become a widely known term amongst millennials and Gen Z alike. 

However, in these spheres, a clear definition of what a slow life actually entails is seen about as often as a komodo dragon in heels. In this context, I think it is important to untangle the term. “Slow living”, is a focus on finding time in everyday structures to slow down and engage in activities that do not lead to capitalist profit. ‘Doing something to enjoy life,’ some have said. Slow living expresses itself through an intentional use of time, as well as valued community-engagement, mostly with a focus on sustainable or social initiatives. 

Having said this, I think it’s important to return to the image of slow living on the internet. A lot of social media platforms will give us beautiful images of a room, with windows showing prairies at sunrise, where bowls and flour all over the 1910s refurbished kitchen indicates that the tenant is making their own bread. But does this show the core meaning of slow living? No. 

The motivation behind slow living is not to seclude oneself from society at large and become self-sufficient in the Scottish countryside, it is to create a value-based life outside of work. As she mentions in her video dissecting this topic from a leftist and French perspective, Alice Cappelle illustrates how this makes it an inherent rejection of capitalist values, on which profit off labour and professional careers are the only calculated value each human can offer. 

This value set, although great for boosting a GDP, however, does not take into account the non-professional work, in addition to the need for humans to socialise in third spaces – which are also a once-commodity, now-rare-gem. 

The will to slow down and create something yourself for a change is also an alternative to the never-ending firestorm of consumerism. Being both uneconomical and unsustainable, it follows us everywhere, all the way into our homes when we decide to take an evening scroll on social media. 

Social media and consumerism are a coupling as dedicated to one another as the Macbeths. They have, in fact, gotten so close, that even trends promoting anti-consumerist behaviour motivate certain viewers to continue buying. 

Observing this trend, it is clear that it highlights different aspects of contemporary life, at least in parts of the westernised regions. Although it values a luxury many cannot afford, it none the less, carries a statement, which is “I am not alive to work.”