Consumerism bad

Consume less, live more - take some time to stand back from your life, away from influences like consumerism, and think about what really matters to you in life and how you want to live.

In the United States since World War II, per capita income has tripledbut levels of life satisfaction remain about the same, while the people of Japan, despite experiencing a sixfold increase in income sincehave seen their levels of contentment stay largely stagnant.

Needless to say, this is exposure to a lot of advertisements! It creates impossible aspirations — quite simply, the principles it is based on make it a logical impossibility that it will make us happy.

So, consumerism pretends to be able to meet our real needs — but it can not. Another less commonly discussed definition of consumerism involves buyers knowing their rights in seeking protection from being unfairly treated or being taken advantage of by merchants.

Much of the debate over how to address the economic crisis has focused on a single word: regulation.

This is not surprising — if the system is not aimed at meeting human needs and interests, but at generating profit, then it will only be a matter of extreme luck that it ends up doing the former.

SMU's Dr Seshan said that "perhaps the most serious cost is human well-being", adding that much research on the psychology of well-being shows that the most reliable predictor of long-term happiness is building and maintaining many positive long-term human relationships.

There is no reality in a world of consumerism.

Social effects of consumerism

The link to the economic crisis should be obvious. For centuries in aristocratic Europe and Japan, making war was a highly admired profession. Grasping after the latest car, phone or item of clothing is an addiction that takes over the mind. So what is a consumer? They could include the opinions of your friends, images from TV news programmes, advertisements on the internet and things you have learned from books or your education. We are exposed to advertising through a range of different sources. Many of us will find that reducing our levels of consumption, caring less about materialism and refocusing our attention and time towards things that really matter to us will eliminate a lot of problems in our lives and give us a great deal more satisfaction, whilst also leading to a more sustainable and fair future for all. We have a choice to live in a better, cleaner world, and that can be decided upon what we take to the till. We also constantly compare ourselves with other people both real and fictitious , wanting to be like them or in their position. Download