Reading reviews is my guilty pleasure. Regardless of the type of product, scrolling down pages of online shops, I occasionally stumble upon some either ridiculous or truly funny reviews. If you’ve never read online reviews, I should warn you that it might become an all-consuming activity. What I’ve found is that reviews might become your raison d’être, and at some point, you might find yourself postponing anything in your life, from work tasks to home chores, for the sake of reading one more review. 

“There was no package. Maybe someone already used my item?”

There’s no doubt that online shopping is a pleasurable activity. Who would disagree that ordering items from the comfort of your own living room is one of the most convenient things in the modern world? That being said, for me, shopping turned out to be not as appealing as reading reviews on the items that people already bought.

“Ordered white socks, got striped. Like these more so I took them.”

I wonder who these people who write reviews are. For me, writing a decent post requires a great deal of concentration, and some customers write reviews about the length of an essay. I wouldn’t bother much with such a task, even if someone were paying me for writing reviews. Of course, if I had more time and considered writing reviews as a type of art or work, I would write them. And if I had written them, maybe I would have treated them as my life's calling. Or, at least, as my job. It's possible that for the best reviews I wrote, I would have gotten awards and prizes. Who knows, maybe some Hollywood producer — I would opt for Quentin Tarantino — even would have made a movie about me writing reviews. 

Well, either way, I don’t write reviews. It’s the last thing I would do — not because it’s boring but because I would never write such pearls of wisdom as those I see online. When it comes to writing, for me, personal experience always comes first and since I’m not a fan of online shopping, I have no right to come up with reviews. However, what I can do is write about people who are writing reviews.

“Good lotion, but when I smeared my child’s face, she started to cry.”

To be honest, secretly reading these posts is like glancing into a keyhole of others’ lives. Not only do I see what people bought, but I can also visit their profiles and examine the stories behind purchases. There’s a woman who bought a baking dish, a child’s toy, and anti-aging cream. That is, she is a mom over 35 years old, who is either a housewife or simply into cooking. There’s a guy who ordered a leash for a dog and aphrodisiac massage oil. That is, he has a dog and probably had a wild night recently. 

“I know that this flavoring is for cooking but I ordered it for my vape. It smells great! Next time I’ll try a banana!”

I wonder if the people who wrote these reviews have ever thought about their data. It seems like many shop owners don’t think about their users’ online safety at all. And yet, I hope they don’t do something about security for a long time, because for me it would be a twist of the knife. Having been reading reviews for about a year now, I’ve developed some kind of addiction to them. How would I be able to peek inside people’s lives with complete impunity if shop owners caught on and fixed the situation with personal data? For the time being, it's as if I have unlimited access to others' lives. It doesn’t matter whether I know these people in person or not: I have only to open the web page and read in order to feel curiosity, amazement or simply laugh from my soul, seeing more quirky feedback about lotion, a pair of socks, or a multicooker with 43 settings.  

What’s the point of writing or reading reviews? I have no answer because it doesn’t make sense at all — and this is what makes reading them so exciting. So, give online reviews a shot. Chances are you’ll like them.