The sounds of footsteps and chattering voices echo through the mall. In every store, racks upon racks of brand-new merchandise tempt customers with a wide range of colors, patterns, and sizes. But of the products purchased, most will be forgotten or thrown away – according to Fashion United, at least 50% of clothing pieces in wardrobes remain unworn. Over 65% are thrown out within 12 months. It’s not just the fashion industry either. According to CSIS, over 1.3 billion tons of food are either lost or wasted per year. Non-traditional consumption, like social media usage, has undergone a similar skyrocket within the past decade. As landfills and credit card bills balloon in size, the issue of overconsumption — the action of consuming something to an excess — has increasingly become a more prevalent issue. Senior Kaelynn Engelau details specifically how she defines overconsumption in terms of fashion.
“It becomes abnormal when you’re buying clothes just for fun, not because you need new clothes,” Engelau said. “Or if you see something and your instinct is to immediately want it and buy it.”
However, sophomore Idhika Shetty believes overconsumption doesn’t necessarily have to have a negative connotation.
“[I overconsume] without realizing it,” Shetty said. “I think we all do in some ways. But sometimes, maybe it can be a little healthy if you’re very interested in something. But I guess not really if that’s all you’re thinking about ever.”
Sophomore Sienna Isaac also notes that overconsumption can take numerous forms.
“I feel like everyone overconsumes in their own way,” Isaac said. “I do it less towards shopping, but I probably purchase more food than I need or stuff like that.”
One of the most common causes of overconsumption can be poor spending habits, according to Shetty.
“I feel like some people will only have a job to buy the newest thing,” Shetty said. “They don’t save their money, they just keep spending and spending and spending. And I guess that leads to overconsumption.”
According to Isaac, overconsumption can often be simply a function of how society is structured.
“Well, the United States is capitalist, so it’s kind of told to people that retail therapy and overconsuming will make them happier, so they tend to buy into fast trends in order to get that quick dopamine,” Isaac said.
Isaac expands on how social structure impacts overconsumption.
“The appeal of the products is getting that rush after you buy something new and knowing that other people are also following the same trend.” Isaac said. “So you just feel like you’re fitting in.”
Business teacher Scott Seavers additionally believes in this idea.
“I think [because of] human nature, we upgrade,” Seavers said. “When a newer TV comes out, we want the newer TV when our TV works perfectly fine and we have got to stop ourselves from just upgrading all the time.”
One of the sources of this philosophy is social media, according to Engelau.
“I would say social media is one of the main reasons that people would want to consume more,” Engelau said. “They see someone that has this thing and then they want to buy it, and then they see someone with a different thing. The cycle just continues.”
Isaac believes that the trends perpetually present on social media only compound the issue.
“Social media pushes the amount of trends coming in and out, which also pushes overconsumption as people are buying more and more to fit into it,” Isaac said. “Social media has led to trends just coming in so much faster than it did 40 years ago.”
Trends aren’t always the only harm associated with social media, according to Seavers.
“I also think social media does this harm in that when people post on social media, they only post their best days,” Seavers said. “They only post their wonderful vacations or their new cars or their bigger house. And their new clothes. They don’t ever post their credit card bills or how much debt they’re in. And so it’s not a fair comparison, and that’s another reason I’m not the biggest fan of social media. It’s easy to hide our debt.”
Because of how social media is structured, it can oft feel inescapable, in Spanish teacher Rebecca Burbrink’s experience.
“We can’t get away from it on our social media because, unless you pay out the wazoo for some things, you’re going to get ads,” Burbrink said. “And all of those, a lot of those ads are about buying what’s the newest, the trendiest, and all that.”
Isaac elaborates on how the cycle of social media trends generates waste.
“I would say trends come and go,” Isaac said. “Suddenly there’s this new squishy thing where everyone’s buying 20 squishies. And those are going to end up in the landfill one day, unless you actually have a passion for and want these for years. But soon that trend’s going to die down and the next big thing’s going to be slime or something. Then people are buying 20 things of slime that will also end up in the landfill.”
When it comes to clothing, Burbrink says that there’s a term for these kinds of mass-produced, trendy products.
“Fast fashion is when a company decides to use products to create fashion that is very poor quality and then they hire workers at very low rates and don’t provide all the necessary benefits to those workers, mainly in countries that are more third world,” Burbrink said.
According to Seavers, the way people consume clothing, including fast fashion, has changed.
“We are buying 60% more clothing than we did 15 years ago, and we’re only keeping them for half the time that we did,” Seavers said. “We have way more than we need in most cases.”
Engelau agrees and sees this trend among her peers.
“There are a lot of people, for example, who buy Shein clothes and then get an entirely new closet every so often just because the trends are changing,” Engelau said.
Burbrink further explains why people feel the urge to purchase new clothes.
“I think there’s a boredom at times when you go to your closet,” Burbrink said. “It’s just that need to fulfill and in the moment, you go ‘Oh look that’s new, that’s different.’”
Engelau believes that fast-changing trends also contribute to the overconsumption of clothing.
“Since it doesn’t last a long time, you just have to keep buying new stuff, and then the trends of fashion keep changing, so then you’re forced to buy new clothes as the trends change, and it’s just the cycle of buying more clothes,” Engelau said.
For high schoolers, Burbrink thinks the pressure to overconsume clothing is especially strong.
“High schoolers are in the zone of focusing on what they look like to others around them,” Burbrink said. “So a lot of times, you want to buy something that someone else would look at and think, ‘Oh, that’s trendy.’”
However, Burbrink worries that they don’t think about the ethical issues associated with fast fashion.
“I don’t think people think about it at all, especially at this age,” Burbrink said. “You’re looking at your budget, and you’re going to spend less money or whatever amount you can, and just wherever you can go that’s easiest.”
Isaac points out that fast fashion is often made of non-biodegradable materials, creating an environmental concern.
“On the planet, I would say, landfills are just getting filled with a ton of plastic and polyester clothing that cannot be destroyed,” Isaac said. “So then it just keeps crowding up. And then also in oceans, you can just see piles of clothes”
Seavers also takes issue with the amount of waste overconsumption can produce.
“That’s what I can’t stand the thought of: waste,” Seavers said. “Wasting money, wasting electricity, wasting energy, wasting time, and sometimes I look back and think about the things I bought and I think it was a waste and it could have been put to better use.”
Seavers finds it important to be aware of uncultivated materials, as it is a form of overconsumption.
“The assignment is that I ask students to track their spending because I think people don’t really know, a lot of times, where their money is going and I think before we make any kind of legitimate changes and improvements in our finances, we need to know where our money is going first,” Seavers said.
Both Seavers and Burbrink agree that awareness is a critical skill to be proficient in before beginning to purchase excessively.
“We look at statistics of where things are produced and what part of that production took place in which countries to kind of give us a better awareness,” Burbrink said.
Being fully knowledgeable about where spending goes is an important trait, and according to Seavers, will set habits for future economic goals.
“I guess what I want for high school kids is to get into good habits now, because whatever they do in terms of habits, they’ll do the rest of their lives,” Seavers said. “So if they start putting money aside right now, they’ll do that for the rest of their lives. If they can avoid debt, if they can put off instant gratification, they’re going to be better off. Those are hard things to do, but they’re important.”
Shetty explains why she believes that setting limits on social media is just as important as curbing spending habits.
[advice] “Set timers on your social media apps,” Shetty said. “It’s definitely difficult, but I think it’s important because why would you want to consume yourself and completely have social media consume yourself.”
Engelau lists other options for those who are willing to take the next step in diminishing their unrestricted consumption.
“I think if people want to reduce how much they’re consuming, they should look into secondhand shops or stores, just buying things used off of like eBay or Facebook Marketplace,” Engelau said.
Burbrink explains the process she uses when spending money; she quizzes herself to make sure she is making an educated purchase.
“Definitely create a budget for yourself that’s a healthy budget and before you buy, ask yourself those questions,” Burbrink said. “Do I really need it? Do I have enough money in my bank right now? Is it going to overspend me? And then where was it made? Should I at least look where it was made?”
If unsure whether the purchase will be beneficial, Isaac explains how to slow down and think about the need for it.
“For people who are looking to reduce, they can start reviewing an item for a couple months before they purchase it, and making sure that’s something that they actually want, or waiting for the trend to die down,” Isaac said.
Agreeing with the idea to slow down and think about a purchase, Shetty offers tangible strategies to obtain this goal.
“Social media should not define you,” Shetty said. “The most important thing to do is take a step back and if that just means like putting your phone away or for that specific moment or setting timers on like to track yourself and like how much you’re on social media or just like I don’t know, having your parents hold your debit card or credit card whenever you feel like the need to make a purchase.”
Isaac clarifies the consequences of not employing some of these strategies.
“I would say it could lead to them not feeling satisfied until they keep hitting that overconsumption urge and buying more and more things, which can lead to an addiction to shopping,” Isaac said. “It can also feel crowded, I guess. If you have so many things and you just don’t know what to do with them.”
Seavers adds that feelings of satisfaction should not be emitted from material possessions, and should come from other values.
“I think joy comes from the person you are, your values, your family and your friendships and that’s ultimately way more important,” Seavers said. “And we look for all of that sometimes in things, and it’s not very fulfilling most of the time.”
Additionally, Seavers adds that many consumers purchase more and more in order to feel fulfillment; he doesn’t believe this strategy will ever let them reach satisfaction.
“I think we’ve always had human nature saying ‘If you just got this, if you just got more of that, if you got a bigger one of these you’d be happy,’” Seavers said. “It’s called the hedonic treadmill, or the arrival fallacy when it arrives. ‘When I get it, I’ll be happy.’ But the fact is it almost never does. It brings us happiness for a short period of time, and then we see someone else who has another one that’s better, brighter, bigger, and faster, and then we want that. There’s always something we want, and I don’t think we’re ever fully satisfied.”
Burbrink explains why purchasing material goods cannot take the place of fulfillment through human relationships.
“If you do not balance what you’re buying with other types of fulfillment like relationships and things and you hyper focus on just [consuming], then you are not a balanced, well-rounded person and it could negatively impact your mental health because you’re not getting fulfilled in the right way,” Burbrink said.
Seavers agrees that fulfillment through material goods is overall unhealthy, and will never let consumers reach the contentment that they are pursuing.
“I think this shiny new thing is always tempting us, and I think it brings us a bit of short-term happiness or joy, but it’s not long-lasting, because there will always be another thing that comes up very quickly,” Seavers said. “And so if we look to new things to bring us joy and satisfaction and happiness, we’re always going to be disappointed. We do have to stop ourselves and say ‘What are we thankful for?’ and try not to always chase the newest, better, brighter, bigger, faster, nicer thing because it’s such a short term buzz.”
