Abstract
This paper uses
several articles to talk about the consequences of placing so much importance
on consumerism. Not only this, but also
the effects it has on teens, which is the main focus point. Kramer (2006) states that consumerism and materialism
has a dramatic and negative impact on children’s physical and psychological
health. This means that youth today is
completely different from youth 10 to 20 years ago and one of the main causes
of this is consumerism. Teens are more
anxious, less happy, more depressed and also more withdrawn when it comes down
to relationships with others. Certainly, happiness is difficult to pin down,
let alone measure but a recent literature review suggests we're no more
contented than we were back then, in fact, maybe less so (APA, 2012) . One of the biggest issues today for teens and
children is obesity and this is caused by high consumerism because people by
things that provide everything without having to do any work. They go online to
shop, they go to fast food places to eat, and they focus more on material thing
then on their health. Approximately 17% of children and adolescents aged 2—19
years are obese so this is a huge problem (CDC, 2012) . This isn’t the only
issue when it comes down to consumerism; another issue is that psychologists
are being used to make advertisements to grab the attention of these teens
which is unethical in every way. This should be stopped, parents should try to
teach their children about the dangers of consumerism, and schools should raise
awareness about this problem which can no longer be taken lightly.
Consumer’s
Downward Spiral Towards
A
Stressful Youth
Compared with Americans in 1957, today
we own twice as many cars per person, eat out twice as often and enjoy endless
other commodities that weren't around then (APA, 2012) . It’s hard for people to understand the
severity of the issue when it comes down to consumerism because it has happened
gradually and everyone engages in it so it’s hard to pin point what is so awful
about it. The effects can be seen in
today’s youth, not just from looking at their physical health, but also by
studying their actions throughout a normal day.
Kids are smoking, drinking alcohol, and taking illegal drugs at alarming
rates but people do not link all of this to the simple fact that we live in a
world that focuses on consumerism. Studies
reviewed by the task force found an increase in violent attitudes and behaviors
in teens due to consumerism. Furthermore,
children are suffering from emotional and mental health problems at a higher
rate than in the past because people are so focused on consuming and having the
best brands.
Kanner
and Gomes (1995) found that advertisements make children feel deeply inadequate
unless they buy certain products or services.
By the time children reach 12 years of age, they use brand names as an
important conceptual cue in consumer judgments (Kramer, 2006). Teens are judging others by the brands they
wear not by their personality and this causes emotional and mental health
problems especially on lower class teens that can’t think about brands when
they go shopping. Studies show that
low-income children, especially ethnic minorities, in nonacademic oriented
families, are at greater risk of suffering from the effects of marketing (Kramer, 2006) . Research suggests that when people grow up
in unfortunate social situations where they're not treated very nicely by their
parents or when they experience poverty or even the threat of death, they
become more materialistic as a way to adapt (APA, 2012) .
Some authors actually argue that children are critical consumers who are
capable of defending themselves against the possible negative effects of
advertising (Valkenburg, 2000) . This becomes an
ethical issue because there are companies making advertisements by using
psychologist’s knowledge of the brain and its functions. Neuropsychologists and
doctors use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine which parts of the
brain react to different types of advertising (Kramer, 2006) . There is an entire field of psychology
devoted to researching and directing consumer behavior and they are using their
information to target children and teens directly (Kramer, 2006) . Is this unethical or is it just another profession? This is a difficult question to answer
because there are many other jobs that are not good for society and they are
still being done and people get hired for them every day. Selling alcohol or cigarettes are both bad
for people but it happens and although there have been attempts to stop it,
especially cigarettes, it has not been stopped.
Something that can be said to be unethical, with no doubt, is that consumers
do not always know when they are being observed by psychologists or their assistants
as they gather data (Kramer, 2006) .
Everyone knows that for every study people should give consent and that
isn’t always being done and that’s wrong in itself without mentioning the fact
that it’s used for things that are not beneficial to teens at all.
High levels of consumer involvement
have been proven to reduce children’s self-esteem in the areas of peer and
family relationships (Kramer, 2006) .
The relationships people have with their family and friends are
extremely important not only during their youth but simply to grow into their
adulthood. Pressure to purchase name brand items frequently causes conflict and
stress between parents and children (Kramer, 2006) . The loss of these relationships can cause a
teen to feel alone, withdrawn, and therefore have psychological issues and they
will try to find refuge in the use of drugs, violence, etc. The general
material culture created through advertising has led children to define themselves
through material possessions, as opposed to ethical purpose and community. This has really become an issue because in
1998, the 31 million teenagers in the United States spent an estimated $141 billion,
a rise of $20 billion since 1997 (Montgomery, 2000) .
Because of their increased spending power, teens have become a valuable
target for the market. Since teens are the group that uses the most technology
they have everyday access to online
shopping so even when they are sitting at home they faced with the dangers of
consumerism.
According
to market researchers, 67% of U.S. teens with Internet access have already
shopped or bought on-line (Montgomery, 2000) .
This leads to teens becoming sedentary which leads to the global
epidemic called “obesity”. For a
condition to achieve epidemic status, it typically must spread rapidly and
generate a higher than expected number of cases. At both national and global levels, obesity seems
to qualify for epidemic status (Hawks, 2001) . The
International Diabetes Federation predicts that the number of persons with
diabetes worldwide will double to 300 million by 2025, with 75 percent of the growth
occurring in developing nations (Hawks, 2001) . The internet isn’t the only problem because
there are also fast food restaurants that are readily available. In my opinion, this can be the parent’s fault
because usually they are the one’s busy working to be able to keep up with all
the family’s consumption and they forget about their children and don’t realize
the harm they are doing by letting them go out to eat or buy everything
online. They aren’t taking time out of
their day to educate their children about the consequences of high consumerism.
There are several things that can be
done to overcome some or all of the effects caused by consumerism. For example, Psychologists must stay
informed, being willing to address this issue in treatment (Kramer, 2006) .
They must stay engaged and do their best to help their patient and
report any malpractice they are able to see being done. Psychologists need to feel comfortable in considering
the possible role that consumerism is playing on their client’s feelings,
including low self-esteem, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, family
conflicts, and more. Psychologists
might be able to apply their skills to develop ads that counter the messages of
materialism. Parents can engage more
with their children and teach them that keeping good relationships with friends
and family is more important than having the brands everyone else has or that
they see on television. They should have
more control over what their children do online and maybe tell them to mute
advertisements. Furthermore, they could
encourage community service and participation in sports so that they aren’t
tempted to participate in excessive consumerism.
Teens
aren’t the only ones that’s need to be educated, parents themselves should go
to educational programs for families to help them learn about the negative
impact of materialism on their children. Individuals need to find creative ways to
reach out to the community through schools, public forums, and foreign language
newspapers (Kramer, 2006) .
There should be classes taken in school that teaches about the dangers
of advertisements, media and consumerism in general so that ignorance won’t be
an excuse in any situation. Professionals
must work to reduce the amount of advertising in schools. Schools are a place to learn about, not only
things you can use throughout your life, but also how to live your life the
best way possible so placing advertisements in schools is contradicting the
whole purpose of school.
Discussion
All
in all, consumerism can be a huge problem in a teen’s life. Not only does it cause physical problems but
also psychological ones. It can lead to stress, unhappiness, and withdraw which
can have a really negative impact on today’s youth (APA, 2012) . Problems with relationships with peers and
family are also an effect of consumerism.
It can lead to obesity which has become a global epidemic and it’s still
on the rise (Hawks, 2001) .
It is hard to monitor and control this issue because the majority of teens use
all kinds of technology and because of this they are the biggest target for
advertisers. Some ethical issues are apparent
when psychologists are used to make the advertisements to target teens and
children directly (Kramer, 2006) .
They use the knowledge they have about the brain and how it works to
make specialized advertisements that trigger the right emotions in each
individual.
There
is still some hope to fix this problem but efforts from psychologists, parents,
teachers, etc are all necessary. Schools
need to have classes not only for students but for parents too so that they
both can be educated about the dangers of consumerism and how to control how
much you consume. Psychologists need to
be aware of the problems their patients might have because of consumerism so
that they can be able to help them and so they can report any malpractice that
might occur. Parents can have the most
impact on their children by teaching them at home to control their consumption
of material objects and how to avoid being tricked or influenced by
advertisements. The only thing that
needs to be remembered is that consumerism is only an issue if it is not
practiced in moderation.
By L. Almanza, Pre-Medicine Student
References:
APA. (2012). American
psychological association. Retrieved from American psychological
association: http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun04/discontents.aspx
CDC. (2012). Centers for disease
control and prevention. Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and
prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html
Hawks, S. R. (2001). Human culture and the
global epidemic of obesity. Health weight journal, 85-88.
Kramer, J. B. (2006). Ethical analysis
and recommended action in response to the dangers associated with youth
consumerism. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Montgomery, K. (2000). Youth and digital
media: a policy research agenda. Journal of adolescent health, 61-68.
Valkenburg, P. M. (2000). Media and youth
consumerism. Journal of adolescent health, 52-56.
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