Note: This article was written for the New York Times’s 10th Annual Student Editorial Contest. The contest was to “make an argument in 450 words or fewer about something that matters to you, and persuade us that we should care, too.” This entry is from Thomas Gehrig, a rising Senior at Don Bosco Prep.
The trend of buying for extremely limited use, or even no use at all, is one that permeates American culture. The American way of life is one of consumerism, and it has quite frankly become grotesque. Overconsumption in America is an ever repeating cycle of advertise – buy – trash – repeat, and has taken over people’s lives.
The ever present need to BUY BUY BUY is one that is constantly present in all aspects of American life. Take a walk down the street and look – there’s a billboard for this “Hit new show,” that is a “must see.” Every inch of the internet has been invaded by ads, constantly pushing different products that promise to fulfill your every need. The makeup of television now includes an absurdly large number of ads, with just under thirty percent of TV time being dedicated to ads, according to a Statista study. This push to try and ensure Americans buy as much as possible, whenever possible, has managed to spread into every aspect of people’s lives.
The act of buying has become so ingrained in American society, that it is practically a part of our national identity. The whispers of advertisements push people to buy what they believe will fill the void of whatever need they’re experiencing. Somehow, the American people have managed to increase the amounts they’re spending each year, despite increased advocation against it. According to a Tradingeconomics.com report, consumer spending has gone up by nearly one hundred percent over the last twenty-five years, while the US Census Bureau shows the population has only increased by roughly twenty percent. This dangerous trend of consuming more and more will only lead to further negative consequences.
Overconsumption’s true threat is to the environment. In our constant desire for more, we hurt what has done the most giving to us. If we don’t slow our consumption down, the damage could be irreparable. Take the logging industry, for example. Wood is a resource used in a variety of products, from spoons to dressers to swingsets. In order to build all these items, forests are being destroyed. The Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nations estimates that 420 million hectares of forest have been destroyed since 1990. There are obscene amounts of waste being created by these products as well. TheWorldCounts.com found that every year, 2.12 billion tons of waste are dumped. These landfills release methane gas into the atmosphere, and can potentially harm wildlife.
Americans have become convinced that they, for some reason, need to keep trying to get more than what they need. This all-consuming need for more has led to people not appreciating or realizing the importance of what they already have. I challenge you to this: next time you’re thinking about buying something, pass on it, and realize how little your life is really affected by not having it.