coffee Convos

I recently read an article on consumerism in psychology, and let me tell you, what I learned from it was quite eye-opening.

What is consumerism? Consumerism is when people acquire abundant products that are ‘good’ for the economy. This phenomenon helps companies decide which products to produce to satisfy consumers’ desires.

In other words, we buy our wants and needs from corporations with ‘our best interests’ at heart. By buying their products, we give back to the economy, which helps our society run continuously.

So, why is consumerism bad?

1: Environmental impacts

Consumerism thrives on the environment, constantly extracting natural resources to stock shelves full of food with expiration dates. What happens when the products consumers don’t buy are no longer consumable? Thousands of products are dumped into open fields on Earth, taking years to decompose and essentially polluting our air.

Who wants to constantly live in a polluted place? Not me.

2: The social divide

Consumerism has a hierarchy, just like everything else in society. The best products for whatever reason you need are for those consumers who can afford them, and ‘dupes’ are valued for those who can’t reasonably afford the ‘real’ item.

This also impacts workers and humans who work in the manual labor industry and essentially labels those capable of acquiring the product in other countries as materialistic instead of humanizing them. This can also lead to cultural traditions being uprooted and exploited for the benefit of consumers.

3: Mental struggles

Trying to make a living in a world of consumerism tends to be tough on our mental health, especially when the products are ten times higher than the consumer’s wages. Therefore, some consumers’ desires are not satisfied because of imbalances in their lives.

This can also lead to materialistic consumption, as when one’s desires are not met, one has to compensate by consuming something more than one can find a purpose for.

On the contrary, consumerism can have the desired effect on the economy. It was shown that in the 18th and 19th centuries, consumerism was based on satisfying one’s desires. Now, desire desires desire rather than satisfaction.

So how do we satisfy our desires today if we don’t know how to be satisfied?

We’ll talk soon,

Sweet T.