Overconsumption is the process of buying more than necessary, hence the name “OVERconsumption.” This can be seen in fast food, water bottles, clothes, and even silly everyday products that we don’t even think about, like our phones. You don’t need some of them, but for others, the name brand is what stands out.
“I bought ‘Stan’ because he was purple, cool, and lots of people own one.” Kynsie King said, a freshman here at Heritage High School. Much like the trend of Hydroflasks, Stanley’s, among other large corporations, play a key role in overconsumption today.
But why is it bad? Why should we avoid overconsuming?
An estimate of, 33 billion pounds of trash are dumped into our oceans every year, and the majority of these are discarded clothing, water bottles, and fast food bags that aren’t biodegradable. Most of these are trends that are no longer “relevant.”
Let’s take the brand Vans for example. Vans create shoes for skaters and other people alike, having a checkerboard pattern on top and a honeycomb looking pattern on the bottoms of the shoes. Whenever you saw a pair of Vans in 2019, you would think they were cool. But now? Now they’re out of style, replaced by the more popular brand Converse, which are soon to be replaced by Uggs. Because of this, people tossed their Vans in the bin, and endorsed the more popular and relevant fashion trend.
“I had a Vans phase, yeah, but then I switched to Converse to have a leg up,” said freshman Penelope Bonnell . She continued, “Now I wear Uggs.”
Halloween just passed, and this brings us to another example. Halloween costumes and decorations.
Halloween decorations and costumes are another way for people to overconsume. You buy a costume one year, and then the next year, it’s would be considered repetitive to wear it again. People spend hundreds of dollars on Halloween costumes and décor each year, only to throw them away when they become repetitive. A study done by oberlo.com in 2023 showed that people spent over $12.2 billion in total just on Halloween merchandise like candy, costumes, and décor.
This begs the question, how can you reduce your overconsumption and live a more healthy life?
- Don’t follow these trends! Yes, they’re cool, and you want to be on par with the more popular kids in class, but all you’re doing is flushing your money down the drain. In just this year, Stanley has raked in over $750 million dollars. Don’t put money into the pockets of these big corporations. Live healthy!
- Reuse, Reduce, Recycle. Buy clothes and water bottles you’ll use often in order to reduce the amount of waste, and when they no longer fit, give them to someone you know who is in need!
- Resist temptation! The majority of overconsumption is due to the fact that people buy on impulse. Buy first, ask questions later has become the norm. Whenever you buy a product, stop and think for a moment. Will you use this in your everyday life?
Don’t feel pressured or discouraged if you do any of these habits. Everybody has done these once in their life, but it isn’t too late to make a change in your lifestyle for the better.
