Bright Amanya
In this modern age, there is an unhealthy culture that has sprung up called CONSUMERISM. People are alwerist way of life, a lifestyle obsession instigated by adverts in the media and the influence of government systems that encourage people to continue having more of everything.We are influenced by adverts which make us believe that our lives are not a certain way, “PERFECT”. An advert about new trending pair of underwear will make someone with low self-esteem think he needs to have a body of the male model wearing the Calvin Klein underwear, or you will see something nice and shiny in a magazine and spend your hard earned money, got from doing a job you hate, and end up spending it on that shiny thing, and then after, you realize you didn’t even need it.Social Media itself, causes consumerism, people that don’t add or produce or create anything for social media, dive into rabbit holes of other people’s content for hours and hours consuming their content, instead of using it the right way.
Social media is good if used wisely but some people end up becoming zombies and trolls because they having nothing of value to add and others continue depleting their self-esteem by comparing themselves to the people on their Instagram feed and TikTok ForYou Page.I don’t know if you have noticed but we are living in a world where people want more and better of everything like more money, a better job because they hate their current job, a better car, better watch, status and power that they get overwhelmed with such stuff.The more labels, perfect dining set, perfect living room, more followers, fame, money… people continuously chase more because they think such external things will make and keep them happy. We indulge blindly in our material possessions and other external things that it hurts us deeply when we lose them, WHY? Because we are attached to them to a point that losing them or letting them go is a fate worse than death.
We let our material possessions define us and in the words of Tyler Durden from the movie Fight Club, directed by David Fincher starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bolon Carter, inspired by the novel by author Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, ‘’what you own ends up owning you’’.We need to wake up and realize we should not let our material possessions own us and should be indifferent towards the external worldly things because they come and go, like life itself, one day you are born and before you know it, you are dead, meaning we should not be so attached to life itself and not take it so seriously. So why spend it, short as it is, trying to get more and more, and ignoring the things that really matter, like our family, meaningful relationships, passions and our own inner peace. Even if you can’t let go, at least reduce on your attachment to these external things. Besides, some of us can’t afford to live a consumerist lifestyle, so why bother, why not practice minimalism instead, which basically means owning what is necessary.This at least is a start to living an anti-consumerist lifestyle and letting go of all your unnecessary possessions and being indifferent to external things.
