What is Consumerism?
A consumer is someone who consumes goods and services. To some extent, being a consumer is beneficial. The term consumerism refers to when people spend more than they need and consume in large quantities. The growth of consumerism affects us in many ways.
Precisely, The concept of consumerism is wanting more and buying in bulk. Consumers believed that these possessions would bring them happiness.
Is this true?
We all buy goods based on our requirements. We then want something additional after we meet our necessities. Without realizing it has the potential to make us greedy to a degree.
The influence they have on our lives, environments, society, and well-being are invisible to us. Our thinking is only that of a mere consumer, unaware of the impact they are having.
Consumerism in India is also booming as the world becomes more globalized. In this article, We shall look at the Causes Of Consumerism and its effects.
Causes of Consumerism:
- Overconsumption.
- Competitive lifestyle.
- The Feeling of isolation.
- Effective marketing strategy.
- Availability of goods/Having too many choices.
- Materialistic possession.
- Overdependence on technology.
- Fashion Trend.
- Being Shopaholic.
- Standard of Living.
Positive Effects of Consumerism/Benefits of Consumerism:
- Production in the industrial sector increases.
- Consumers have ample options when it comes to goods and services.
- Demand and supply assist market forces.
- Employment opportunities are available.
- Life becomes more comfortable.
- With gadgets, everything is accessible with just one click.
Conscious consumerism is making deliberate and thoughtful purchasing choices that depend upon our personal and ethical values.
However, we must proceed cautiously with each step. Consumerism can only be a blessing if we see it as an opportunity.
Read more : https://swatinsights.com/75-amazing-facts-about-india-that-makes-you-proud/
Negative Effects of Consumerism:
Consumerism is growing at a faster rate than we had anticipated. Therefore, people’s hunger overshadowed the positive growth of consumerism.
Our wishlist increases instead of necessity. Moreover, the issue arises when we are unaware that there exists a problem.
Effect of Consumerism on Climate:
Consumer behavior drives climate change by spending money and buying unnecessary items without thinking about their consequences.
Explicitly, some of its effects are as follows:
- Excessive consumption depletes limited natural resources.
- Increasing industrial development leads to deforestation.
- Using fossil fuels for the extraction of raw materials is polluting.
- Transportation of goods is again not an eco-friendly method.
- After consumption, disposal of waste creates the problem of land degradation and landfill.
- Electronic waste pollution results from gadget obsession.
- Bottles, cans, and other plastic products emit greenhouse gases.
This method of Capitalistic growth will only boost economic activity. Unknowingly, it contributes to Climate Change by putting enormous strain on the environment.
In other words, we can say that someone else is paying the price for our consumption.
Effect of Consumerism on society:
Inequality:
Someone is struggling to meet their basic needs, while another is overspending on useless items. As a result, Inequality within society grows.
Relationship Problems:
Artificial and technological relationships have taken the place of real ones. Therefore, worldly wealth and brand obsession turn the customer into a market puppet.
Crime:
Another serious consequence of theft, robbery, and murder is growing materialism. As long as materialism expands, so does the crime rate in society.
Effect of Consumerism on Health:
According to several studies, utilizing devices has an impact not only on our money but also on our precious well-being. Hence, the effects of consumerism extend to our physical as well as Mental Health.
Emotional Constraint:
First, Humans experience emotions such as jealousy, inferiority complex, and depression.
Second, fear of losing. We feel stressed because we are afraid that others will take the things we have away from us.
Psychological Constraint:
We can’t afford to ignore the psychological implications.
Consumerism also creates mental pressure among consumers, particularly young people. They are in a vital stage of their lives. In general, it is virtually hard to distinguish between the positive and negative impacts of consumerism.
They desire all that their friends have. Moreover, it occasionally forces them to borrow to meet the increased expenditures. The stress of repaying a loan causes mental distress.
Effect of Consumerism on Economy:
The economy operates on the demand and supply premise. In comparison to supply, demand grows more. As a result, the industry started to produce low-quality products to compete. It erodes the products’ credibility.
We, as customers, are still on the losing side. Consequently, low-quality products have detrimental effects on our economy.
Effect of Consumerism on Employment:
As the market becomes more competitive, it creates a large number of jobs. However, this post offers a low wage. It has an impact on an individual’s growth.
7 Ways to Challenge Consumerism:
- Consider all of your choices before spending money that you have earned through hard work. Is it worthwhile?
- Can we tell the difference between desires and needs?
- Is it true that we only go shopping when we are bored or sad?
- Do we need the items we’re about to buy?
- Is it simply to show off culture, that is, to maintain a competitive lifestyle, that people acquire useless things?
- What makes us pleased about this sort of consumerism?
- Do we understand the hidden expenses of the things we buy?
Way Forward:
Not everything is either positive or negative. Every problem has a solution. What we only do is to observe things and be aware as a customer/consumer.
To sum up, setting small goals can aid in mitigating the harmful effects of consumerism.
For instance –
- Look for the actual source of happiness in our surroundings.
- Praise what we have by being thankful for it.
- Unsubscribe from unwanted information or advertising.
- Be mindful of the environmental issues that we face.
- It is the individual’s as well as society’s joint responsibility.
Last but not least, think before you spend. Henceforth, the only thing that exists is people’s happiness.
Thank you.
The effects of the way things are produced and consumed today have impacts all around the world.
True.
Good article as everything is explained in detail.
Thank You.