What is consumerism?

Consumerism is:

-Owning a washing machine, instead of washing everything by hand in a tub with a crude homemade soap and then hanging it out to dry

-Having a house that is centrally heated, or cooled, instead of simply opening a window in the summer and having a fireplace in the winter (both of which are wholly inadequate to regulate the temperature of a large house)

-Taking a car from point A to point B, instead of walking (roughly 3 mph), taking a bike (10 mph), or taking a horse (15 mph)

-Owning a kitchen stove instead of gathering wood to make a fire, lit manually instead of with a match

-Being able to throw lukewarm food into a microwave to make it more palatable, and to reduce the risk of bacterial infection

-Being able to take a hot bath/shower every or almost every day

-Having indoor plumbing, and running water, enjoying the luxury of brushing your teeth twice a day with brand toothpaste and an industrial-grade toothbrush

-Having reliable metal tools (even if just pots, pans, and metal utensils), which probably could not be produced at home

-Buying your clothes at a store from a name brand instead of making it by hand or with a loom

-Owning ceramic plates and cups, washing these in a dishwasher instead of by hand with a homemade soap

-Wearing deodorant or antiperspirant

-Taking medicine when your stomach's upset

-Having a refrigerator/freezer so that you can wait several days/weeks/months to eat certain perishable foods, such as eggs, milk, or meat

-Being able to regularly apply a razor to your body, with shaving cream, and being able to apply a band-aid/antibiotics if you get a cut anywhere

Let's not kid ourselves: by world and historical standards we are obscenely wealthy, and the average guy here who talks crap about consumerism would not be willing to give half of these things up (and I didn't even mention entertainment like television, radio, internet, movies, or books). You might self-righteously believe that cutting back just a little bit will somehow make you not a rabid consumer, but in fact you still are, because that's just the nature of the society into which you were brought up and which you have always been a part of.

Sorry to break it to you.

Consumerism is a form of slavery.  It should not be confused with capitalism.

Consumerism is the privileging of material comfort and possessions over human concerns, to the point where those concerns bring real misery while reducing short term discomfort. To understand why it is bad requires second-order thinking which looks beyond immediate consequences to how it affects larger systems. Cars make it easier to move, but they also leads to cities which are designed with said movement in mind. Cities are no longer designed to be walkable, so cars become a necessity instead of a life-improving luxury. Social interaction becomes more voluntary, which reduces short-term anxiety but also leads to alienation and social breakdown. Kin groups don't live in the same area, so people lose built in safety nets that reduce the normal load that people place on society at large. You can't mistake consumerism for technology, that's why we have different words for them. Sardinia isn't in the stone age, but its much less consumerist than the rest of the world, and has very high longevity, health, and self-reported happiness.

Aphoristically, consumerism is when people 'live to eat' rather than 'eat to live',  with 'eating' intended figuratively.

For humans, there is no amount of comfort that will ever be sufficient; we're designed to be motivated, not satisfied.

If technology advanced to the point wherein robots performed every task for us (well beyond what you're stating in the OP), we would be crippled with depression-inducing boredom.

The fact that people, who have insane amounts of comforts by historical standards, "talks crap" about consumerism, should be weighty evidence.

This is some bullshit Communist rant. Why don't you stop typing away and go live in a fucking Gulag? Why don't you go experience actual Communism without Consumerism? Go kiss Pol Pot on the damn lips for all I care.

I think you completely missed the point here.

And your point is? I hope it's not the your so wealthy so who cares that half the population is making less than 30k a year argument. Just bc i have a laptop doesn't make that okay. We live in this time, presently, on this earth. What you have in life doesn't matter, but if you are unhappy due to inequality... that is an issue and matters no matter what material you have.  

Excellent assessment Kieth i.e. you hit the nail { material wealth } squarely { perpendivular too } on the head.

7.5 billion people on Earth with majority of adults wanting a jeep cherokee and a garage to protect it from environment.

Consumerism is fine, but not at detriment of the ecological environment that sustains humanity.

Ego is the greatest danger to humanity and humanity is having trouble getting outside of operating beyond its ego-based-armpit.

Wasnt it the 1990's X generation that was called the 'me

generation? And that came on the heels of humanity doing away with Mutually Assured Destruction { M.A.D } nuclear annilation from 24 hor bombers in the sky.

Now we just have 24hr submarines in the sea and land based missiles, that are no longer on constant standy-by alert. 

My point is that either you put your money where your mouth is or shut the f*ck up about materialism and consumerism. There's no virtue to be gained from flapping your gums when you are clearly a consumer like everybody else.

(Note that I meant "You" in a general sense, not referring to you specifically.)

There are pretty much only two ways to solve mass resource consumption:

1. Technological innovation which increases efficiency of said consumption finally begins to outpace increase in demand (in recent decades it's only served to slow such down)

2. Large-scale government action to either decrease demand or to otherwise reduce consumption or increase efficiency in some areas.

We will probably reduce consumption by running out of resources.

Sure mostly everyone in today's age is a consumer. I personally don't get what the fuss is over... i didn't know anyone whines about it. I guess minimalists try to act all high and mighty... but they're consumers nevertheless. Other than that, i haven't heard anyone have a problem with being one or not. 

That is a whole bunch of stupid. 

I think consumerism has more to do with buying things for status or because you are bored rather than buying thingd because of neccessity or convenience.

Thank you. 

Consumerism is "American lifestyle". Simple as that.

No other western nation consumes? BS

Like insane Americans? Absolutely not. I've never seen something like "Black Friday" before, for instance.

By the way, consumerism is not equal to consumption. All people consume, buy things that they need, but consumerism is the insanity of consumption made real.

Il Diavolo

Bull crap. Black Friday is one day and year and only a small portion of the population even participates in it. The West is the West and like it or not other nations are in it just the US. 

Thanks God it's just one day.

All the same, there is no other western country with worse consumer habits than the US. Actually, the US has the highest credit card debt per capita in the world. To the yanks it can be natural to have a credit card and use it all the credit, but in other countries this is insane.

Il Diavolo

Thank goodness you snooty bigots have the US to look down on. I really wish we would pull all our military from every Western nation on the planet and let you all foot your own bill for a change. 

What happened, dude? Did I touch raw nerve?

Take a cup of tea and cool off, Everything is OK.