Consumption Madness

Consumption frenzy, consuming more than necessary on a continuous basis. Like the "Cookie Monster" in Sesame Street in the early 90's... Clothing, nutrition, technology, beauty, knowledge, time... we consume everything rapidly... We and our children who always want and cannot get enough... Like a black hole... It swallows whatever you throw and disappears... It's like It suddenly disappears as if it never existed...

For some reasons that I will explain in a moment, our impulse to buy is triggered and we fall into the trap of buying more and getting better in order to relax and experience financial difficulties. In order to get rid of this problem, we are still trying to buy more and get better. We find ourselves in a vicious circle. Result: Consumption frenzy, in which we suffer from needs that cannot be met while pursuing instant happiness…

We cannot prevent consumption, it is a need. We are all consumers. However, the question of what and how much is needed is important. Will we consume for real needs or will we adopt consumption habits imposed by advertising, fashion and the global capitalist order? The important thing is to find the answer to this question.

What are the reasons?

There are personal, social and environmental reasons. Although the reasons vary from person to person, I will try to look at them in general and answer them. Personal reasons; Reasons such as the temperament characteristics we inherit from birth, childhood experiences and learning, parents' consumption habits, deprivation as a result of meeting or not meeting the needs too much, emotional hunger, and whether the needs are met in the present or not.

First of all, let's look at the early ages of human beings: 2-3 years of age is the "mine" period. He calls everything he sees "mine". He says "no" to everything. It is in the egocentric period until the age of 7. He cannot empathize, he cannot think or care about another, he only has his own wants and needs. He asks for something, it is taken, and then he wants something else. Parents say, "My child is very insatiable or has a big appetite." If physiological, social and emotional needs are not met too much or neglected/oppressed during this period, this period may lead to a worsening of this period in later ages. He selfishly always wants to have things to compensate. Or, on the contrary, he gives up his needs. Our subject, of course, is the segment of people who want to have everything. Every age group has certain needs. When these are not met, they are transferred to the next period as needs that must be met. Then adolescence... It is a very important period. It has to meet many needs such as individualization, being able to make decisions on one's own, overcoming problems, autonomy, problem solving, socialization, etc. I think that these periods of consumption-addicted, hungry or addicted adults are not spent in a healthy way. So what was the most important reason? Failure to meet childhood and adolescence needs in a healthy way.

 

So what are our current needs?

Physiological needs (eating, drinking, sexuality, health, etc.), work, family, social life, the need to love and belong, the need for esteem... Failure to meet these needs sufficiently causes deprivation in the person. Especially if the needs of childhood and adolescence are not met, the situation becomes even more dire. Relieving this deprivation can sometimes be achieved by inappropriate means. Addiction is one of these ways. Consumption addiction is the act of consuming more than what is actually needed, doing this just for the sake of consuming, and continuing to do so. This can reach the level of disorder. If it causes financial difficulties and problems in work/family/social life, we can now talk about a disorder.

 

On the other hand, there are some political and socio-economic reasons. After the 1980s, there was a transition from production to consumption society. The rapid development of technology and the incredible professionalization of marketing and advertising have affected disadvantaged people more for the reasons we just mentioned. People's inherent need to receive and possess has been used and continues to be used. Incredible increase in the variety of products. When we buy a sweater, we look at the more beautiful and attractive ones... The urge to have that more beautiful and attractive one... As the communication sector and technology progress, the increase in sales will align with the targets. In this regard, efforts are being made to instill a sense of constant consumption in society.

 

Other social and environmental factors:

• Seeing and emulating what others have, the clothes they wear, the car he bought, the house he lives in... Thinking that real happiness is having these things without evaluating his own financial means and trying to have them,

• Clothing, traveling, eating and drinking as required and encouraged by the social environments he enters. Trying to have good habits, otherwise feeling inadequate and worthless,

• As a result of the increasing importance given to beauty and appearance, you cannot make peace with yourself and try to make constant changes,

• The efforts of children or young people to belong to a group, the phenomena they follow, their emulation of the lives of artists,

• It is exaggerated on TV or social media as if everyone lives that way. -flamboyant lives, 

 

Marketing and technological reasons:

• Companies constantly make innovations in order to market their products better, 

• They follow people's needs and requests very well and make changes in the products in this way, 

• Tactics applied in advertisements that will attract the consumer and make the product desired even if it is not needed, limited discount days, risk of falling out of the basket within 10 minutes after adding it to the cart, race to purchase

• After shopping incoming discount messages, very good use of social media for advertising

• Quickly producing products and putting them into service according to general needs (for example, masks)

• Subnimal messages applied with psychological methods, 

• The speed and comfort provided by internet shopping, 

• Credit that does not require the use of cash for shopping. use of cards,

• Banks offering easy credit opportunities,

• Effortless delivery of service to your door via cargo

• The number of shopping malls preferred for leisure time travel is The increase in the amount of There is also a need for limits when it comes to shopping. Both for ourselves and for our children. For this, first of all, we need to be aware of what we are doing, what it causes, and intend to change this situation. What are the advantages of this uncontrolled shopping? What are the disadvantages? What are the advantages and disadvantages in the future? In other words, it is necessary to make a conscious evaluation of the short and long term as a family. When you decide to set limits, the following can be done:

  • It is extremely important to make budget plans within the family and to instill the concept of home economics in children.

  • Determining lists of needs and planning priority needs and shopping times by including children,

  • Separating monthly payments into envelopes, keeping the remaining to use,

  • If you frequently use shopping-related applications on your phone, maybe put it in a file, maybe delete it for a while.. 

  • For children. Giving controlled and certain levels of pocket money, not giving credit cards to children, and having limited credit card limits for adults.

  • Avoiding watching advertisements, especially keeping our children away.

  • Orienting to shopping for a purpose, shopping according to need, not spending long time in shopping malls, planning shopping at the end of social plans and allocating short time, reducing non-necessary consumption behaviors,

  • In social life, preferring to spend time in nature as a family instead of shopping mall trips, doing social-cultural activities, 

  • Monitoring the internet use of children and young people, 

  • It is necessary to stop and say where am I running, what am I pursuing, what am I doing? Is this the life I really want to live? Am I staying in this world to constantly acquire, possess and die never being satisfied? Why can't I achieve true happiness, peace and satisfaction? It is necessary to seek answers to these questions.

  • Put your hand on your chest put it to rest, take a breath and say, “How am I? What do I really need?” So, slowing down will be valuable... In other words, looking for happiness not in external sources, but in internal sources... Exploring this can lead us to real satisfaction... Thus, our being alive will have a meaning.

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