So, I read this BBC news article about a recent Unicef report claiming that UK families are falling apart due to a reliance on consumer spending and “brand bullying” over family quality time. And do you know what? They’re pretty much spot on.
Now, I’m not fussed about “family values” or whatnot, but I am concerned with the way so many people feel the need to buy expensive things so they can “be somebody”. And it’s not just children, as the report points out, it exists in all generations these days. I’m not about to point out where it came from, since I’m not an “expert”, but needless to say, it’s quite depressing.
Gadgets are the key thing, with parents feeling they need to buy their kids iPhones or the 3DS in order to prevent them from being bullied at school. Hey, parents, here’s a crazy idea. Why not teach them the importance of not being a capitalist puppet and that if kids want to make fun of them for not having pointless shit, then those kids are not people your kid wants to know? Ever thought of that?
But no, instead, we get parents whining about how they’re being pressured into doing it. By who? Your kids? Perfect time to teach them what’s really important in life! Being pressured by ad men? You are aware you don’t have to buy what the ads tell you, right? Who else could possibly be pressuring you? Maybe it’s an extension of this absurd “keeping up with the Joneses” attitude far too many people have, where they insist they must have everything the people around them have in order to be happy. I have no idea.
But as I said, it exists throughout society. I’ve seen people feeling the need to buy a smartphone just because, well, “everyone needs a smartphone now, right?” When pressed on how it would be useful to them, most people seem to blankly stare back with no answer in mind. It’s stupidly common, and it actually scares me. It’s like the zombie apocalypse has happened, only instead of mindlessly seeking out human flesh to feed on, we’re mindlessly seeking out shiny things. Zombie magpies, that's what we've become.
How about we, as a nation, no, as a world (I know you're just as bad, America, don't try and hide it), learn to grow up, learn to think for ourselves and say “no”? We don’t need to buy the most expensive things to be happy. I’m happy, largely because I reject much of the modern consumer society and just do what makes me happy. I don’t own an iPhone, and I certainly don’t own a tablet computer (I aim to write for a living someday and tablet computers are counter-productive to that). The most advanced thing I own is a PS3, which I have because I’m a gamer and there are games for it I like playing, but there is no way in hell I’m buying a £2000 TV just because the PS3 will allow me to play games in 3D. Every “gadget” I own is used regularly. Everything has a use. Why is it seemingly so hard for other people to do this?
So let’s join together and only buy what we feel will be useful or interesting to us, not just because someone said we need to? In response to the iPhone’s ad slogan “if you don’t have an iPhone, well, you don’t have an iPhone!” let’s just say “that’s a problem?” and carry on with our lives. Let’s find a way to use our money more effectively, to find things that make us genuinely happy. That £2000 you spent on a 3D TV could have been spent on a gym membership, as a way to make you fitter and healthier. Or, like I said, you could travel, go see places. Or you could just save the money, sit down with your friends and family and just talk to each other. It costs nothing, surprisingly.
After all, we got into a recession through reckless spending and the subsequent debt that spawned, so let’s correct that and get our finances in order. Let’s reject the consumer society together, and better ourselves in more positive ways. Can’t let those big bad marketing men bully us forever, can we?
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