Whether it’s the one is never enough mentality, or always wanting to be on top of the latest trends, overconsumption culture has gotten too far out of hand.
The other day I was scrolling through TikTok when I saw a girl talk about “project pan”. What the heck can this be now? Well I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a bunch of beauty influencers coming up with the idea to use up all their products before buying new ones. Isn’t that just a normal thing we all do? Well that’s what I thought until I deep dived into the comments and saw how this “project pan” is an actual trend people are taking part of this year. I even saw this one girl comment “Can’t wait to hit pan on my blush so I can try a new one out”. And I guess I took this comment 2 ways. 1 being that at least she’s using up her blush (that’s where the pan comes from, hitting the pan of the product). And 2 why is this even a thing.
Overconsumption culture has taken over the human thought process. Like honestly. It’s flooding your feeds and your mind. Try this new thing, buy this thing you can’t live without, new formula, make your life better, these are all statements used to trick us into thinking we really can’t live without the product they are trying to sell.
And I’m not innocent, and one thing I’m guilty of over consuming is water bottles. At least I’m aware of this now and have learned it’s really not necessary to buy the new trendiest water bottle, but before, wow, it was like I was hypnotized. This one has a straw, I need it. this one’s leak proof, I need it. And now I have a drawer filled with water bottles and I use the same one everyday, pointless.
So I guess overconsumption culture affects people in different ways cause personally I don’t find the need to have more than the one blush I use but if you ask me about water bottles that’s a whole other ball game.
Overconsumption can be sneaky. It’s like being tricked and the seller is wearing a mask trying to fool you into the next big thing. Or it can be like an angel and a devil on your shoulder, the angel is telling you to save your money and you don’t need it while the devil is trying to say this new product will change your life.
Don’t get me wrong a good shopping spree can be fun but to be honest besides the new outfit all it’s doing is harming the environment and your bank account. My hack is to narrow it down to needs vs. wants. Is this something you need? Or just a want?