Consumer Culture Essay

Essay

Nowadays many people argue that material things have become too important for the modern society, while others are of the opinion that consumerism has altered people’s life for the better. I personally believe that consumer mindset of contemporary society has more pros than cons.

On the one hand, good living is not always linked with consumerism. First of all, some people are willing to be self-centered and not to keep in touch with surrounds. They may devote their lives to satisfy their unlimited pleasures. And this process becomes their only purpose in life. This fact makes them as victim of their behavior, but it is followed by negative feelings. For instance, shopaholics are always felt compelled into buying more although they already shop for doubled even tripled in a month. Moreover, paying too much attention to their needs might lead to carelessness of their relatives who really need some help and attention. They become focused on themselves and their needs only. The consequences of such behavior are lonely elderly people, children who haven’t been brought up in a proper way, but who are heaped by expensive toys.  

On the other hand, consumerism has several benefits which are associated with happy life. Firstly, happy life which consists of constant acquirement of prestigious items or money may force people to work hard for increase their earnings. Thereby, creativity and innovation are flooding in their head as an incentive to earn more money. And this process is one of the engines for progress which sometimes leads to great inventions. Also, there is a biological reason for being concentrated on material goods. We cannot feel the satisfaction and enjoy the moral values until we have everything for the safe and comfortable life. That is why we can say that consumerism is the only way to meet basic human needs in order to become concentrated on what is really important for us.