Member-only story

Collections

What is it about collecting that keeps us engaged?

Ben Shelley
4 min readJun 2, 2024
Photo by János Venczák on Unsplash

Something that keeps us coming back for more each year despite the grey that sifts through our hair and the increase in expense that accompanies every expansion or sticker book.

Collections are great as they transcend generations and ensure that we can pass along our love for something. Oftentimes that can be misplaced and you see children taking old collections to auctions to cash in on their parent’s love but for every case like this, others begin to love.

Collections are expensive and can create obsession but they can also offer us a chance to relax. To take a step back from our day-to-day lives and build something beyond the screen that focuses the mind and offers us the chance to breathe.

An Expensive Hobby

Collections can be expensive. Even Pokemon nowadays is a very middle-class hobby with booster packs costing at least £5 per pack for only ten cards and the more you buy, the more duplicates you receive.

I have been collecting Pokemon cards since 1999 and I still have not and will never collect them all owing to the consideration that I need to eat and pay my rent. I would love to be able to say that I have enough but I am realistically miles away from being able to say that I have caught them…

--

--

Ben Shelley
Ben Shelley

Written by Ben Shelley

Someone who has no idea about where their place is in this world, yet enjoys writing about books, education, entertainment and videogames

No responses yet