Materialism is a modern trap many of us fall into. Take a look around your room for example—how much of your stuff do you actually need?
If you compare yourself and all of your possessions to someone of the past who lived before the industrial revolution, which gave rise to consumerism, you’d be astounded at how much more you have than them.
Paralleling this, we are in the midst of a mental health crisis with materialism and consumerism contributing to this more and more as its prevalence grows each decade.
According to a paper from 2015 by the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, “As a value, materialism plays a destructive role in the positive development of adolescents, such as lower generosity, lower subjective well-being, lower school well-being and reduced consumer ethical beliefs.”
As people desire for more things—more unnecessary objects—the objects become distracting.
Bear with me here: Focus on your breathing, breathe in and breathe out. Now pay attention to your eyes and how they are blinking, and the noise they make as they open. Notice how you forgot about your breathing?
Similarly, if you are so focused on obtaining material possessions, it is easy to forget about trying to improve yourself.
In the paper it also mentions that adolescent materialism was connected with less social behavior toward friends and strangers.
In the way that items become a distraction, people care less about their peers because their mind is focused on possessions.
We can blame this plague on the nature of capitalism in part.
Each day the average person sees hundreds to thousands of ads, all of which are trying to get you to buy something you “need,” making unnecessary items seem necessary to your brain.
This has caused our society to disconnect from the previous style of living. Moving way beyond our ancestors who lived much simpler, but just as happily.
There’s a reason that in two of the largest religions in the world, Christianity and Buddhism, the most devout and most peaceful have next to nothing.
Christian monks are called to lead simple lives, designed so they can focus on worshipping the Lord. Similarly, Buddhist monks lead simple lives so their minds are uncluttered and they can focus on things like nature and achieving zen.
The monks practice minimalism with the idea that less is more.
They are not left desiring new things because they are content with what they have. They dedicate themselves to their religion and basic upkeep, and work on improving themselves at all times.
The people with these materialistic behaviors, including myself at times, are left desiring the next thing—always wanting more.
These materialistic habits also manifest in fast fashion.
As clothes get even more mass-produced and made even cheaper, people see less value in them. If you ruin a pair of pants, you can easily and cheaply just buy new ones.
A massive amount of waste is produced just from shipping and manufacturing clothes-plastics, cardboard, tags, and whatever is involved in the factory to make those clothes.
According to an article on the EU website, textile production causes roughly 20% of the clean water pollution in the world.
The best way to fix materialism in modern society is to turn to the basics. Think of if you actually need something than if you just want it.
Go through all your stuff and consider the last time you used it, how essential is it to you? Is it simply cluttering up your room and mind?
While I’m not calling for people to sleep on the floor with nothing more than food and water, I suggest everyone consider what they truly need and make substantial cutbacks to their possessions to get closer to that.
Once you are able to say no to your desires, your life truly becomes yours. You are the most powerful and in control you can possibly be.