American Consumerism
When the boxes of my stuff arrived at my apartment for move-in, I was horrified by the amount of material things I owned. The cardboard boxes, all stacked up in my kitchen, were truly overwhelming. I knew the only solution to this problem was to begin unpacking and sorting through the heaps of things. As of now, I have two garbage bags filled with clothing that I have decided to donate: two entire garbage bags of clothing I no longer want or need. It’s kind of ridiculous.
The excessiveness of American consumerism has been affected by never ending access to new information, trends, and ideas. The ease of access to information paired with our incessant consumption of it has made it so we always desire more. These desires tend to feed into what’s hot and what’s current. However, these trends are constantly changing as they rapidly rise in popularity only to die out a month later.
This is only reaffirmed by the success of platforms such as TikTok, Twitter, and even Instagram stories. These platforms emphasize quickness and they focus on shorter forms of content which allows the user to ingest more and more information. Instantaneous access feels almost essential, and I find myself needing that instant gratification.
The rise of social media has also managed to impact the rise of American consumerism—I believe through the oversaturation of novel items and images of wealth. Various social media platforms, Instagram in particular, are particularly image-oriented. This, coupled with the cultural shift to social media marketing and online influencing as a career, has brought on an influx of images of material objects with sentiments of desire and necessity. The platform has been altered to promote images that imply wealth with designer goods, beautiful homes, flashy cars, and more. When your feed becomes saturated by these images, it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid the desire for material goods. Personally, I have found myself purchasing products because an influencer I follow posted about how great it is. I have found myself desiring things that I have no real use for. After watching a TikTok about a skincare fridge I began looking into them online. Logically I know that I personally have no use for a skin care fridge and yet I still found myself looking into buying one!
However, this excess of material things is not surprising. Fast fashion, while detrimental to the environment, has made it easier to try out new trends. It’s a smaller commitment due to the ease, speed, and low prices of the ever-increasing number of fast fashion retailers. There is an increased desire and supposed necessity to follow trends. However, as a way to combat the sustainability aspect of fast fashion and consumerism, many people have been turning to thrifting and upcycling. While this trend still feeds into the excessiveness of American consumerism, it attempts to at least make it more ethical.
While consumerism is not necessarily a bad thing, the excessive nature of American consumerism has become so overwhelming that I have come to find that material goods are no longer satisfactory. Purchasing something because it is trendy right now no longer brings me any gratification. By the time something becomes viral enough to become a trend and for me to then purchase it, the trend is ending. This just leaves people with piles of material objects with no meaning. As 2020 comes to a close, I think it is important to try to look inward to find gratification without consumption, or at least limited consumption.
By Lilly Delehanty
Duke Student, pink purveyor and resident expert on surviving and thriving.