Allegedly, gluttony is the absence of temperance. Since I can hardly use temperance in a sentence, I’m using the following definition:

Gluttony (Latin:Gula) –– A disordered or excessive appetite for food, drink, or general consumption.

Overconsumption is the lifeblood of capitalism, as evidenced by the GLP-1s, the prescription medication epidemic, social media addiction, procrastination by education, other ideological placations (like echo-chambers, “dopamine hits”...) I’ll leave it there.

Medicine before dessert.

Understanding gluttony without grasping consumption is impossible. When going through the work of picking apart the 7 Vices of Humanity (aka the 7 Deadly Sins), it’s easy to find peace in the lawyer’s approach: rely on precedent – or past experiences that created definitions for crimes. In this case, crimes are sins or vices. With some vices, reasoning is clear. The envy in Caine’s spirit was pivotal to the decision to slay his brother Abel. On the other hand, gluttony can be challenging to identify, because “general consumption” is vague.

How much social media scrolling is gluttonous?

Digital platforms are designed to be:

The most credible news outlets
Your way to connect with friends, family, and your community
Highly Entertaining
A medium for art and creativity
A way to earn money
The home for your resume

I posted this article on Substack, a social media platform, and I contribute to the societal propensity for this vice.

So far, there is no right answer for how much time, attention, or energy people should apply to Instagram, Tiktok, or Youtube. Currently, there’s a major legal battle regarding the responsibility of Google and Meta for youth attention spans & general intellectual decline. No matter the ruling, American legal precedent suggests that the common citizen will be the most inhibited party by the verdict.

Personally, I believe social media is to be treated like dessert after a day of healthy eating – just enough that you learn to appreciate a wider range of the joys life offers, but not so much that each moment is rewarded with indulgence.

Gluttonous Mind

When I was less mature as an artist, I allocated most of my time toward researching my craft, logging hours sketching, saving concepts, and creating narrative blueprints – none of these are publishing. The difference between completion and works in progress is the acceptance of perfection’s impossibility. The process of drafting a written piece is like oil painting; writers edit, correct, and reconfigure to illustrate clearer images in readers’ minds, but knowing how art will be perceived is an educated guess, at best. Eventually wet media dries, but an author can edit an article until they die.

Earlier in my writing career, I obsessed over nominal details. Many early newsletters were writings about writing – again, this is a topic I’ve explored before. By refusing to set sail on a path of genre and style, one elects the coward’s purgatory of indecision. Meta analysis is a gluttonous avenue.

Many people don’t have the courage to be a novice. Becoming a master in any field requires self-improvement and character development. Shortcuts reek of poison in the forms of vices, and those who put in the work can smell it on you. No one can keep secrets from the initiated.

Chubby Cheeks

Gluttony → consuming information with no output.

Without proper nutrition, a lumberjack inhibits his ability to pay attention, complete daily duties, and master the craft. Establishing quality habits like sleeping 7-8 hours per night and eating healthy meals are non-negotiables. Cutting towering oaks is a tall, dangerous task which requires absolute focus. Before earning the opportunity to chop trees, a beaver (an inexperienced woodsman) must prove they’re capable of the task.

An unhealthy lumberjack appears to be someone who lacks care for their life’s work, which signals something is wrong with their mind, spirit, or their body. I’m sure there are many stressed out woodsmen who chain smoke on rotation, but what does this say about their priorities? Their profession? Their lives?

Who we are bleeds into all that we do.

Human beings consume to live; we do not live to consume. We navigate systems to experience joy, pain, sunshine, and hurricanes which add dimension to our days. Even in death we meet human novelty – a freshly carved tombstone.

Looking no further than cigarettes, the artificially designed urge to poison one’s body for acceptance into a social group is present. Though nicotine advertisements are strictly prohibited, new generations find ways to get hooked. Companies like Marlboro, Camel, and Newport were marketing trailblazers that blended visually stunning brand identities with compelling marketing strategies. Even today, a well-styled vintage Marlboro racer jacket would make you a local fashion icon in Wicker Park, Rodeo, or Dumbo.

Like all other vices, gluttony requires external force to acknowledge its presence; only afterward may it be dispelled. Before the mirror, Narcissus’s pond, and other looking glasses, people depended on their communities to tell them there was spinach between their teeth. Now, salad eaters use smartphone cameras and mirrors to conduct face scans between meals.

This creates a more self-conscious society.

People’s willingness to withhold truth as a means of placation is a recipe for mistruth, ignorance, injustice, and other evils to persist.

Miss Fomo Meets Mr. Jones

Fear of missing out, keeping up with the Joneses, and the reckless desire to stay informed are expressions of gluttony.

Keeping Up

Gluttony and greed are – like many vices – connected. A reasonable person may equate greed to the acquisition of lavish goods to show others that they have equal or greater financial status, but Keeping Up With The Joneses is more than that. It’s about wanting to be “in a moment” (an identity), and in their pursuit they become “of the moment” (a cultural byproduct).

Consuming something that is not for people to consume, like a culture, is a form of gluttony. Culture is a participation in an environment. The process of KUWTJ creates a system of people fighting to be enough. I’ll leave this for you to decide whether that’s good or bad.

Miss Fomo

FOMO seems dependent upon external factors – clubs, gatherings, and other time-sensitive events – but missing anything is far more relevant to internal, psychological feelings like fear and pride.

Moments are fleeting, and missing out on a concert means you’ll never get to have that experience. As Heraclitus is quoted,

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.”

There will always be opportunities for grand adventure, but the most helpful question to bear in mind is, “What is my journey, and am I properly on it?”

Direction is infinitely more important than speed.

Finally, a poem.

Reckless, in the news


Every tool within

manipulation’s radius

pursues stagnant fruit,

in an oft ignored brush,

while the emperor is absent,

of clothes,

soul, horns, or halo.