Overconsumption: Not Buying It By Stephanie Rosenbloom

Overconsumption is costing us our happiness. Have you ever caught yourself splurging trying to find happiness just to end up disappointed. In Judith's Levine's article called "Not Buying It" she cut out all her extra spending habits for a year and consequently lived off a strict budget that would cover all her necessities. After her year long project she experienced life changing lessons such as having a new perspective on spending and new values in her everyday life . Another article that talks about overconsumption is " But will it make you happy" written by Stephanie Rosenbloom. Rosenbloom discusses the idea that materialistic things do not bring in happiness into one's life. Experiences in life bring more happiness than buying the latest …show more content…
With 11 billion dollars being squandered. With the money that is being used for luxury items and events, the U.S. could be feeding the homeless, building communities, funding schools and universities, and so much more. This is just one of the many examples of money being mismanaged and therefore causing overconsumption to drastically affect our lives.Over consumption is constantly being overlooked as a major problem in today's society, which is why awareness must be raised. The world is too concerned about politics and wars rather than being worried about making our world a better place.In the article, by Rosenbloom “But will it make you happy “ she states “The idea that you need to go bigger to be happy is false,” she says. “I really believe that the acquisition of material goods doesn’t bring about happiness”. Is having the latest iPhone , flat screen , laptop, car , clothing really necessary or is that just a problem we face in society nowadays wanting to have the latest stuff and not worrying about the long term consequences of greed and …show more content…
People want the best brands the best products, and big companies take advantage of this. New products come out, and ads influence us to want more and more. The corporate business sees how ignorant we are with money and that provides them a bigger chance to push a new product and capitalize on making our hard earned money. We spend most of our life working just to have our money taken back by something that will lose value as soon as you buy it. Everything materialistic eventually loses value. We are bullied into handing our hard earned money to companies that are making a fortune by strategically manipulating people to believe that their product is a must-buy when in reality, majority of the time, the product becomes useless shortly after being purchased. We are the problem in overconsumption and we need to be aware of this. It's not needed, we may think we need it or we may want the latest invention or trend that's in style but that will not produce happiness. Overconsumption is an addiction, influenced by the greediness of modern society. We may not realize it, but we are fed consumption in every aspect of our lives. Social media, ads , commercials, magazines, word of mouth we are always being told what's the latest and the hottest out. This leads to overconsumption. There are several ways that over consumption has been exposed and how it is restricting us from