WEEK 149/Weekend Engagement Initiative: My Take on Consumerism

When it comes to how we consume goods and services in our society, I think it's something that can hardly be controlled. It's about our own preferences. I am one of the people with a strong belief that some people are natural consumers. They only slow down their consumption rate when they are broke. In talking about consumerism, we can handle it on so many levels. Let's look at this phenomenon on a personal and societal level.

On a personal level, we have individuals who always want to add more. It is their way of life, which, in most cases, was influenced by how they grew up. I am personally not that kind of individual, but I do have people around me with this lifestyle. There is this brother of mine who just came to mind before I started this post. He completed college with a diploma in basic education and started teaching in 2013. His life, since he started his job, has taught me a greater lesson regarding how we consume goods and how greatly it can affect us. Especially the individual's identity, social status, and sense of well-being

He started living a strange lifestyle as he increased his spending on possessions, including things I personally saw as unnecessary. This eventually led to financial strain, and as I am writing this, he is experiencing financial stress and is still unable to afford to further his education. All these are just because of the lifestyle he chooses to live. There are many of his caliber in our society, but the fact is that I can't label consumerism as non-legit just because people got financially stressed because of it; there are others with that lifestyle, but they are doing well in life. Hence, on a personal level, I believe consumerism is something that can have detrimental effects on individuals, but it's not an act we can identify as non-legit.

Taking a broader societal view of consumerism. If you live in a society that generally embraces the concept of consumerism, you are likely to live such a lifestyle because of its influence. You can know if a particular society embraces an act through its social and cultural norms, and these norms can easily twist people's perceptions to believe or act in a common way.

There are societies with a lot of social pressures that force people to live a certain lifestyle, and some societies with a lot of stuff available for people to acquire at any point in time. Consumerism is common in such communities because individuals are likely driven to participate in consumer culture and acquire material possessions as a means of gaining social recognition or status.

I happen to be someone who has lived his life in three different kinds of societies. I have lived in the countryside, a township, and a city before, and comparing the three, they all have different lifestyles and trends. Consumerism is something that is very common in my hometown, and it's all because of peer influence. Most people, in trying to fit into society, try to possess things that are not even needs for them. We all can attest to the fact that consumerism in rural life cannot be the same as in the city. Just because they all have different lifestyles, trends, and availability of goods and services

With all these being said, I believe consumerism is something that is greatly influenced by a lot of factors, and I can not label it as something not legit. We all, or our societies, can find ourselves in this phenomenon without realizing it. Consumerism can have a greater impact on the economy, and the economic model of your society can also make it more consumer-oriented. Hence, I believe it's something that can have both a positive and negative impact on society.

This is an interesting writing suggestion for this week's weekend engagement challenge by @galenkp. I would be glad to read other people's entries on this!

Thanks for your time.

All photos used in this post are taken with my phone