Sharing makes you happy

Heidrun Rahlmeier doesn’t take it amiss that a few students implemented their idea. “The technology didn’t even exist back then,” says the 63-year-old from Hamburg. “I was a medical technician and on my way to work I would see that most cars were occupied by only one person. I thought: this has to be different. But I couldn’t think of a way to bring people together.”
Today, a mouse click is all it takes. The website (from “take my car”, i.e.: “Take my car”) – started by the students mentioned in 2010 – brings together private individuals who do not need their vehicle at the moment and those who want to get from A to B cheaply and at short notice. The tenant pays 22 euros a day for this. The landlord earns 10 euros. The rest is for insurance that will protect it from damage and theft. Heidrun Rahlmeier has been selling her VW Polo for almost a year. She has left it to others nine times so far. “Except for a scratch on the front, nothing has ever happened,” she says with satisfaction. “The main thing is that my car doesn’t break down anymore.”

Sharing is the new owning. Those who no longer need things pass them on

With her attitude, Heidrun Rahlmeier is no longer a whimsical “eco aunt”. Consumer researchers and psychologists around the world are observing a profound change in the behavior of millions of people: all of them are no longer concerned with owning things. They just want to use them. And when they’re done with it or don’t need something right now, they give it away.
Sharing is the new owning . “We are experiencing a shift from the I culture to the we culture,” says American author Rachel Botsman . She also came up with the technical term for the young phenomenon: collaborative consumption .
“My husband Chris and I love the TV series ’24’,” the expert gives an example. “But once you’ve seen Jack Bauer defeat terrorists twice, you don’t want it a third time.” But Botsman has another passion: “Sex and the City”. “I lived in New York for ten years,” she says. At that time she wanted to see the first film again before the start of the sequel, only: she was missing the DVD. “I asked myself: Is there anyone who is exactly the opposite? Who wants to see ’24’ and no longer ‘Sex and the City’?” She surfed to the website www.swap.com (“swap”). “I got 59,300 hits.”

Sharing is communication. It can (re)connect people

The idea behind this is amazingly simple: There are no useless things, only useful things in the wrong place. And there is a lot of that: The online auction house eBay estimates that unused household goods worth 35.5 billion euros are lying around in Germany’s cupboards alone. This results in an average of 1013 euros per household. You don’t just put them on the street. But many don’t have the time for a stand at the next flea market. In addition, cleaning out the basement or attic has long had about as much charm as the annual tax return.
The Internet is now turning this into an adventure – because it ensures that the “business partners” can communicate directly with each other – even if one lives in Stuttgart and the other in Sydney. “That is crucial for me.

Sharing is communication ,” says Prof. Steffen Koolmann , Chair of Economics and Society at Alanus University in Alfter near Bonn. “When lending, it’s actually a double communication process.” The book, the DVD or the cordless screwdriver is returned and returned. “And a lot happens when you return it at the latest,” says Koolmann. “Did you like the book?” – “Did you find the scene so cheesy too?” – “The drill is great, isn’t it?” Completely new relationships develop . The researcher finds carpooling, which is now also handled entirely online, even more exciting. “Two strangers make a date and drive hundreds of kilometers together in a car. I find that very exciting,” says Koolmann.
He therefore sees sharing as a development that – as paradoxical as it sounds – is bringing back via the Internet what is being lost at the same time through the global network: it is practical to book flights, reserve tickets or shop online. But we’re sitting alone in front of the screen. “In addition, in our globalized world, many structures in which sharing used to be a matter of course, such as the family or village communities, are no longer available,” adds Koolmann. “The new sharing gives us back communicative support .”

Sharing is helping. And helping just feels good – for both sides

Anyone who thinks the whole thing is just an “internet bubble” is wrong. Sharing also works very well in real life, even when a conversation between those sharing is hardly possible because there are simply too many. “Of course I observed who my clothes made happy,” admits Hanna Nikolayenko and laughs. “I like to share.” In September 2011, the Frankfurt native took part in “ Swap in the City ” for the first time. The idea: Each guest brings a maximum of ten items of clothing or accessories that they no longer wear. In return, he gets colorful plastic chips with which he then “pays” for pieces that other guests have brought with them. The concept comes from the USA. In Frankfurt/Main alone, well over 700 women were enthusiastic about it.

“The crowd was worse than the summer and winter sales combined,” says Hanna Nikolayenko. “Nevertheless, it was a wonderful evening.
” “It’s just a good feeling to help others,” says Prof. Georg Felser , lecturer in market and consumer psychology at the Harz University of Applied Sciences in Wernigerode. “If you help me, it feels good. But if I share something that benefits others, it has an even stronger effect.”
More than 120 companies and thousands of citizens were infected when the “ Frankfurt shares“ started. 500,000 euros, time and attention came together for the “World Sharety Project”. It was initiated by the Frankfurt artist Mike Kuhlmann, who created a catchy name for a new attitude to life from the English words “share”, “care” and “charity”. This is where Prof. Felser’s special appeal comes into play. ” Sharing has enormous charm because it’s immediately obvious that it makes sense.” That’s why it’s more than an online phenomenon for him too. “The Internet is just a vehicle. Behind it are human needs that are independent of it.”
He has been buying and selling used CDs and DVDs on eBay for a long time. “I don’t know how the prices are calculated. Still, it’s fun,” says Felser and laughs. How so? “The higher the price, the more I get the impression that what I’m offering is useful. It shows me that others have tastes similar to mine. This is how community and belonging are created.” Sharing makes us happy because it defines our ego, our self-image.

Sharing is care. Anyone who treats shared things badly is thrown out

“At the same time, it becomes possible to play through different identities ,” explains Felser. “I can drive a completely different car, change my clothes and become someone else. I don’t have to do without anything, I don’t have to commit myself, my self-image can vary more often.” For him it is clear: “The times when sustainability was equated with consumer criticism or renunciation are over,” says the psychologist. “Sharing makes both possible: I can act sustainably – and still consume.”
Nevertheless, there is a barrier. “The higher I value something aesthetically and personally, the more I fear that it will come back damaged,” says Koolmann. “Then I’ll just share it with someone who values ​​it as much as I do.” When he first became interested in music, there were vinyl LPs, which weren’t as easy to download and copy back then. “It was better to look each other deep in the eye three times before sharing an LP with others.”
Marina Scholz is doing the same thing again today. She has been a “ couch surfer ” for three years”, CS for short. She and her husband Matthias offer strangers from all over the world to sleep for free on the sofa bed in the living room. “Before I take someone in, I read their CS profile carefully,” says the florist. Ever since daughter Laura (eight months) was born, even more so. “People who want to roam around the house late into the night are in the wrong place with us. The guests have to adapt.” The CS profile and, above all, reviews by others show who can – and who can’t.
Social control at the click of a button . It also ensures that a shared DVD is rarely scratched, that a car is almost never stolen in private car sharing and that a CS apartment is not vandalized. “Users know that what they do today affects their ability to do business tomorrow,” saysRachel Botsman . Nevertheless, Steffen Koolmann recommends agreeing on rules of the game for each sub-process. “All sides have to get involved in this. That avoids stress,” advises the expert. “After all, sharing takes place in an almost lawless area . That’s why it’s all the more important to make clear agreements.” If there are any, Koolmann is convinced that there will be communal consumptionnot stop at material things in the future. “Skills could also be shared,” the expert considers. “For me, the question of whether air, which we all actually share, should be privatized through CO2 certificates, is also part of it.” Perhaps communal consumption is the beginning of an answer. “For me, sharing is what makes consumers smile,” says Koolmann. “It’s a dig at the manufacturer: there’s another way.” Sharing makes you happy because it might change the world a little bit.