A friend had told me that when it came to purchasing things, she would always imagine what I would say, “Do you need this? Do you really need this?”
According to economics, resources can be divided into two kinds: needs and wants. Needs such as food, water, and sanitation are essential to survival. Wants, such as the latest technology or microtrends, are desires—not exactly needed but something we want to acquire to conform to or to enhance the quality of life. There are reasons why we need and want certain things because they ensure we will live another day to do it all again.
But does it ever reach the point of excessiveness? Does it ever arrive at the moment where you can not help but ask, “Do you need this? Do you really need this?”
Overconsumption is when consumers use a commodity until it is unable to be reused or replenished at the pace at which it is consumed. It is influenced by factors, such as economic growth, the latest trends, social media, and others, which affect the environment and how society perceives needs and wants. The topic will focus on one of the factors mentioned: social media and how it affects the rise of consumerism and overconsumption.
When scrolling through social media, some of the content seen are hauls. People purchase excessive amounts of products, which makes viewers wonder if one needs that many things and if they are sustainable in the long run. Social media, besides being a platform for people to express themselves and their opinions and ideas, has also become a virtual marketplace where influencers become vendors, and the price is your time and money. People are easily influenced by others. If someone they look up to says a product is good or worth buying, it causes people to purchase because of our innate desire to conform to society’s unwritten and quiet rules that are obediently followed. We become like the people we idolize and look up to by having the same things as them.
There is no problem when people buy things they might want or have seen online or from people who recommended them to them, whether they are a friend, a family member, or someone they idolize; the issue is when purchasing becomes excessive.
Overconsumption leads to an increase in pollution in the environment. An example is when food and fashion items end up in landfills or never get used again once the fad has ended. These accumulate as garbage when some, or most, can still be used. In the long run, these would lead to drastic and detrimental changes to our environment and the resources we have. You might be wondering, “Then who do we blame? ”. There isn’t one exact person to blame for all our misfortunes about climate change and the environment. Several factors, such as capitalist influences, societal pressures, social media, and others, affect the way people consume certain products. These factors interplay with each other, causing an increase of over consumerism and in turn would lead to an increase of pollution in the environment.
So, “What can we do? ”Our actions, no matter how big or small, affect our lifestyles and the environment. In our way, we can de-influence ourselves with our consumer choices. The first is to assess our personal preferences and choices. By assessing our personal needs and preferences, we can decide which things we can get and their use in the long run. The second is to de-influence ourselves from social media; not everything posted online represents peoples' lives exactly, and not everyone can afford a lifestyle like their idols. The third is to make the choice. One that you decide on your own and consider your circumstances as well.
Next time, whether you are my friend mentioned at the start of this or a mere stranger reading this, I hope when you find yourself buying things, ask yourself,
“Do you need this? Do you really need this?”
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