Scrolling through any social media, you are bound to encounter at least one influencer showing off their Stanley Cup Collection. These reusable cups have cemented their place as collector's items rather than the 'renewable’ tumblers they were originally advertised as.
Many may look at this need to have a Stanley for each day as just another difference separating these of touch influencers from the 'general population’ and, while that sentiment is true to some extent, this trend highlights a more troubling part of our current economy. The Stanley Cup fervor is an example of America's current overconsumption epidemic.
Overconsumption put simply is the excessive use and consumption of goods, leading to saturation of products and an increase in waste. The advent of social media especially has made us all more susceptible to partake in overconsumption due to the sheer amount of advertisements we are both outright and subliminally shown. Videos as harmless as restocking a pantry all present to our minds a need to buy items that oftentimes have no use.
While this consumption may appear good as it stimulates the economy, it also generates greater demand leading to product saturation. Industries such as fashion, literature, and even film all reflect this need for quantity over quality. These industries, in their attempt to churn out as many products as possible, end up with extremely poor quality outputs. These poor-quality products then leave us feeling unsatisfied with our purchase leading us to buy even more, a never-ending cycle of consumerism that takes money from people and puts it into the pockets of corporations and businesses.
Apart from its economic drawbacks, overconsumption is also highly detrimental to the environment. This constant buying and regret generates more waste, filling up landfills around the globe at an increasingly alarming rate. These poor-quality products do not end up in thrift stores or attics when they meet their inevitable end and are instead just thrown out and replaced.
This is not all to say that hope is lost, and we may be stuck in this endless cycle of consumption. While social media may have been one of the largest perpetrators behind this epidemic, it is also doing a fair amount of fighting it. For all the influencer videos that may show up on your feed, there is always one to 'de-influence' you. While it may seem tempting to engage with every product you see, in this current economic landscape media and financial literacy are two vital skills. Be able to distinguish between needs and wants, or else each scroll may as well be a dollar wasted.
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