Little consumers

The majority of the people on earth, or at least the ones that have access to this blog, live in a consumer lead world to which they are connected 24/7. The push to start consuming is there from the day we are born, mothers buying the latest pushchair and little Nike booties. As we grow up we learn to want stuff, and when we get what we want, we just want a little more. In infant school brands are not such a huge problem for us, we basically just want what everyone else has got and it’s “not fair” if we don’t have it! As we move in to Junior school things begin to change a little, we now don’t just want football boots, we want the latest pair that’s all over TV and billboards sponsored by David Beckham or insert latest superstar here.

As we move in to high school it spreads; the bags, the shoes, the trainers, the toiletries. Phones, music, movies, even underwear. We don’t just have to have an item now, we have to have the latest or we don’t fit in, we’re not part of the status quo. By the time we leave high school we are hardcore consumers. Our parents, being consumers themselves have always provided for us, we were part of their wants too. But now we have to go out there and earn a living so we can buy stuff. We buy a house to put our stuff in, and maybe even a bigger house to put yet more stuff in. We meet someone who has their stuff, have kids and we basically begin again, rising little consumers.

Consumerism wouldn’t be so bad if we could actually afford to do this. Money makes the world go round, but the problem these days is it’s not money, it’s credit. We’re not actually making the money to buy our stuff, we’re taking out loans and store credit to buy stuff that will be out of date before we have finished paying off the loan. It will still function perfectly well, but it’ll be out of date according to every TV advert and celebrity sponsored to push the latest version.

Our kids are growing up in a world where we are constantly connected, to the media and each other. Cyber bullying on social media is a real and terrible thing, our kids unlike us are no longer safe from taunts when they leave the school gates, if anything it gets worse.

So what can we do to change this. Maybe we need to question our purchases and those of our children, to teach them the difference between needs and wants, perhaps to question the status quo.

“We spend money that we do not have, on things we do not need, to impress people who do not care.” ~ Will Smith (The fresh prince)

No Comments
Leave a Reply