The Pandemic That Nobody is Talking About

The average person sees over 10,000 adverts every single day.

Whether it be a new product or service, or an existing household name reminding you that they exist, consumerism is now at a level where we are constantly bombarded with advertisements.

In fact, because advertising has been so engrained into our daily lives, it can be hard to get away from it.

Are we on the verge of a consumerist pandemic?

Or… has it already begun?

What is Consumerism?

Consumerism is a term used to describe society’s growing obsession with buying and owning material goods.

A “consumer” is someone who buys and consumes products, and the society we live in continues to move towards a world where more and more people are being swamped with consumerism.

In other words, people get consumed with consumerism.

• Adverts — everywhere.

• News — everywhere.

• Content — everywhere.

Your brain craves information, and the consumerist society we live in today is like a giant pill.

Because information (and useless information at that) is everywhere.

You’re being hypnotised, and the constant need to feed your brain information is a pandemic.

When you eat too much, your stomach grows, meaning it demands more and more food, making you fatter and fatter.

Your brain is the same.

Feed it too much, and you fall down the slippery slope of consumerism, which is damaging to your mental health.

Don’t do it.

I went to New York in December with my family, and one of the biggest tourist attractions in Manhattan is Times Square.

Just a bunch of giant adverts on the sides of buildings. Literally.

“Ooohh bright lights!” Get a grip.

Save your money and go to the beach instead.

There are several key negatives that I want to outline about consumerism…

Negatives of Consumerism

Consumerism is getting worse and worse.

We’re moving towards a world where your ability to spend money on pointless consumer products, is an accurate measure of your wealth.

This, is bad, and I’ll explain why.

Opinion Conscious

A lot of people buy things, not because they’re:

• Fun

• Practical

• Useful

But to show other people that they’re not broke.

The only problem, is that the more money you spend on consumer products, especially when you don’t need them, you’re getting closer to going broke.

People go broke trying to convince other people that they’re not broke.

Ever heard that before? Well, it’s true, and it’s one of the biggest problems with consumerism.

Lack of Disposable Income

The more you spend, the less you have to build for your future.

Investments:

• Stocks

• ETFs

• Real Estate

Business:

• Starting a business

• Side hustles

• Income streams

There’s always an opportunity cost, because money is scarce.

The biggest problem is that there’s a lack of financial education in today’s world.

Many think that the best way to spend their money is to convince other people that they’re wealthy.

This isn’t the case, and will put you further away from any wealth building goals you may have.

The Opportunity Cost

Lack of Production

Sure, you might have a good job which pays you well, but when you spend too much time consuming, you find your creative side deteriorating.

I truly believe that everyone should try starting a business or side hustles that challenges their creative nature.

There’s very little downside, and the potential upsides are massive.

But, when you live a consumerist life, this saps your creative energy.

Your brain loses the capacity to think, as it’s busy trying to remember all the useless consumer information you’re feeding it.

Worse Mental Well Being

A brain that is consuming too much, and not creating enough, will not be a healthy one.

Bad content does to your brain what bad food does to your body.

It ruins it.

• Adverts.

• Social media.

• News.

Take in too much information that your brain doesn’t value, and your mental health will begin to deteriorate.

Lack of Wealth

Like I spoke about earlier, your money is a finite resource, meaning that when you spend some of it, you lose the ability to buy something else.

When you keep spending your money to buy the next trendy thing, you lose that money and the ability to buy the best thing you could’ve bought with it.

The best thing you could’ve bought with your money? Time.

You can buy assets which create income for you, bringing you closer to retirement, and living a life of financial freedom.

But, instead, you decided to spend your paycheck on useless consumer products because you saw an advert on FaceBook.

And you wonder why the wealth gap continues to increase?

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