For the first time in at least a decade, Jeanine Mendez did not buy Black Friday. Brooklyn, 31, did not visit a store or check her laptop and phone for online offers. Instead, she planned to go to a local park and go to Manhattan with her parents visiting Florida.

"The stores are crazy, it's stressful," said the startup consultant. "People are everywhere, I just want to spend time with my family and be away on Black Friday."

While some people think that shopping at Thanksgiving is a sacrilege, finding bargains on Black Friday does not have that stigma. According to forecasts by the National Retail Federation, about 116 million Americans will shop on Black Friday.

Not these people.

Call them Black Friday – people who refuse to face wake-up calls at 2 am, crowd, body slam and conspicuous consumption just hours after walking around the table. saying everything for which they are grateful. (Tip: It's usually health and family, not cashmere sweaters and flat screen TVs.)

Encouraged by the #OptOut and #BuyNothingDay hashtags, they point to over-consumption, personal financial problems or simply the desire to spend a day off doing something else. Black Friday no longer holds any interest – credit card or other – anymore.

"Most years, I've been disappointed at not being able to get something because I have to be there very early, but I've never been one to sleep in a tent to go to." nobody's television, "said Mendez.

She walked into the malls from midnight with her older brother, fed by coffee and the thrill of the hunt, and then returned home exhausted at 7 am to sleep. Her new philosophy – though she already got an Apple Watch with almost 50% off and 30 Gap branded clothes for $ 150 – stems from the need to "completely disconnect", become an independent worker and the will to go from giving to something else. experiences, such as holidays in South America that his parents get, movie passes and restaurant gift certificates for the more than twelve people on his list.

"I have so many things at home and on my person," said Mendez. "We are constantly surrounded by things."

This plethora – at home and on gift lists – is what allowed Black Friday to become a retail phenomenon and an official holiday in capital letters. In 2008, when the economic slowdown accelerated, the need for good deals reached its peak, but more recently, Black Friday and its co-conspirators, Thanksgiving Day sales, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday turned into black November.

Now, there is a reaction.

"It stopped being fashionable, and we went from an interview to a news that revealed that three people had been injured in two fights and that four people had been arrested," he said. Karthik Easwar, expert on consumer affairs at Georgetown University. McDonough School of Business. "Black Friday will evolve."

Psychologists call this reaction: when people are pressured in one direction, they can do 180. Unwinded by advertisements and media coverage of Black Friday, shoppers can do the same thing as when they are confronted with a problem. arrogant car salesman and they're just going away.

"People realize that you can abstain or stay out of the way." It's a way of saying, "I do not agree with that," he said. "We see sales all the time. This has fundamentally changed the way we view Black Friday. "Why go to the store and wait in line when I can wait and pick it up on December 1st?" "

While the motivation to go to a mall is disappearing, the desire to find good deals will not change anytime soon, said Easwar. The immediacy of online shopping is part of the essential help: no aggressive buying buddies or trousers.

That's what prompted Scott Porter to say goodbye to Black Friday this year. The 23-year-old professional golfer from Newnan, Ga., Grew up in a city of 900 people with no light. Living with a mass of humanity in search of good business is not his problem. He has been forced to go in the past years with his cousins.

"I was tired of fighting the crowds," he said. "It's so many people, it's getting too chaotic for me."

Porter then announced that he was planning to make all his online gift purchases using a special bank account in which he saved $ 1,200. He admitted that he would not miss the purchases or the adrenaline rush, but the experience itself, and that he was afraid of not getting the best deals. online.

"I prefer to try my luck on Cyber ​​Monday than to shop," he said. "It's funny how some people react to the conclusion of good deals and they are ready to act."

For Tammy McCleary of Lincoln, North Dakota, it was a question of aging Black Friday. After almost 20 years of rush after Thanksgiving, the pressure to quickly get the most popular toys and video games is gone.

"I'm getting older and I no longer have young children to buy, (and) I do not need much," said the 49-year-old assistant of Mary's University. . "Years ago, when the kids were younger, you went to the store and hoped not to be trampled … I left alone, because I'm a fast buyer and I knew what I wanted and I I got it, I do not do it. " no patience to shop with other people. "

In her glory days, McCleary was armed with a shopping list, several layers of clothing to avoid wearing a coat, and store-making skills to help her find the right merchandise. sought. This year, she has to buy gifts for 15 people and wants to buy a new bed for herself. His plan is to buy online and maybe visit stores without hurry.

But years later, she still remembers her best Black Friday find: a very affordable Fisher-Price dollhouse with accessories.

"I do not remember what I paid, but I know I would not have bought it otherwise at that time," she said.

Follow the USA TODAY reporter Zlati Meyer on Twitter: @ZlatiMeyer

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