On buying things and gifts

Ever since I finished reading Fumio Sasaki's book on minimalism Goodbye, Things it has made me be mindful of the things that I own. Or do they own me?
I say that in half-jest.
Because the more I consider that idea, absurd though it may sound, the more it fits.
I notice it a lot more with bigger posessions, but even small ones do it.
There are small but noticeable siphons of energy attached to everything we own. It's most noticeable in the space that they occupy and the upfront costs.
But it doesn't end there.
They take a space in your mind as well (albeit with varying degrees).
Each bringing with them a small upkeep to your life.
On its own it may not be too much.
However, imagine hundreds of tiny latent processes gobbling up your system resources.
If you were a phone, these would be your background processes and such.
Not active all the time, but they sap your energy even when not in focus.
The thing that bothers me the most about this is that there's a societal expectation involved.
Growing conscious about the subtle ways that nudge you to buying more.
Instead of replacing, repairing, or doing without.
I don't see the last option being spoken about at all.
The culture seems to be moving - exhaustingly- against that.
For anyone in this space, I think this is not a new realization.
I don't mean to make it seem like I came up with this as a new novel concept.
It's just that once you become attuned to thinking this way, it's impossible to not see it.
It's everywhere.
One of the main messages that really perpetuates this kind of thinking is social isolation. This is really powerful because historically if you are separated from the pack, you will die. I say historically, but this was by and large how we lived even as recent as two generations ago. The rapid urbanization and advent of mass communicative technologies certainly has a lot to do with us moving away from this kind of lifestyle. However, it is nonetheless, in some part ingrained in us that these ties are important (even if it goes against some beliefs we hold). Of course, It is easier to swallow our disbeliefs than it is to die in isolation. But that isn't the case today. You are not bound by the local community and their support. Even if you are critical of their very core beliefs, there exists (in some parts of the world) secular governments that will provide a safety net. However, most marketing will make it seem like you will be still be ostracized or left out if you don't purchase their shiny thing . And boy howdy, the messaging couldn't be hitting harder than it is right now. Holiday seasons are just rife with it - and this one is especially a big one.
The pandemic has hit a lot of industries hard. I understand the -financial- need for this kind of messaging / marketing. Many jobs are at stake. Many livelihoods. But internally, my mind goes "so what?". We were able to go without during the pandemic. As a sort of forced experiment. Clearly we can go without. And the world still spins. Shouldn't this be a wakeup call for us? But that's another topic for another time. Back to materials, ownership, and advertisements. The pressure for this is actually strong in the other direction too. The pressure to feel as if you need to buy things for others'. Because obviously, if you don't buy things for them, yep you face the risk of being isolated. A few weeks back, I had a family member fly back from Nepal. We spoke sporadically during their time there. And one question never failed to make an appearance. "What shall we bring you from nepal?" Their systems must have fried when I responded "Oh, that's fine. I don't want anything". Because it started a conversation into whether I was mad at them. Or if I thought they weren't able to afford it. Or a handful of other bizarre leaps of blame, fault, and guilt. Now, there are times to slip your beliefs under the carpet, and there're times to stick to them. For whatever reason, my brain convinced me that this was one of the latter. As they continued to ask and pressure me to this, I started thinking of different answers. "Actually, if you really wanted to give me something, can you give me a negative gift?" Of course a negative gift is to "Take one thing you were thinking of buying and opt not to" Or , I continued , "Why don't you just donate the money you were going to spend on this gift to someone/something instead?". Unacceptable. Naturally. I knew by now that the act of gifting things (and bringing random statues/plaques/nick-nacks) was a form of expressing closeness. But it was a failed shorthand. it made sense why this existed, of course, in a culture that did not acknowledge emotional connections or healthy conversations on need. This was one in a litany of failed shorthand to closeness. The cast of these failures include things like enmeshment as a shorthand for being involved in your life and using food as a vehicle or a metaphor for care. This pushback has not been received favorably. I feel a little bad about doing this. But the way I see it, this has been yet another area where establishing boundaries is important. They may feel ok about gifting the thing, but to me it seems like yet another thing I don't have use for or want. And getting rid of it comes with the added guilt of potentially disappointing them. Because of course they're going to ask where it is/ how come I am not using it down the road. All this - avoided by just setting good boundaries. I wonder if the push back would be a little less, if they knew why I was asking for no gifts. But that's a can of worms I'm not yet ready to open with them.