Happiness As A Result Of Consumption

3 Pages 630 Words

Happiness As a Result of Consumption
The article written in the Globe and Mail, Worldwatch comes along to spoil the fun, highlights the effects of consumption on consumer happiness and satisfaction. It poses the question, “Are we having fun yet?” which was a popular slogan in the 1980’s. This slogan still receives a great deal of thought in the year 2004. Growing wealth in today’s economy has many people questioning their own happiness and what their happiness is based on. Individuals are acquiring such physical possessions as car, televisions, credit cards and other frivolous material goods that force them to revaluate their emotional satisfaction.
This issue has been brought to the fore front by the Worldwatch Institute, an independent research organization. The main concern of the organization is with “the waste of natural resources around the world” (Saunders). Previously, the Worldwatch Institute was concerned with how consumption in developed countries was affecting the general emotional stability of the developing world. This argument has changed slightly due to the growth of economic wealth in countries such as India and China, which were once considered less developed than countries in North America. Economic growth in less developed countries is partially due to factors such as globalization, which has made it easier for these countries to gain access to a wider range of consumer goods.
However, an increase in consumer spending in areas of the world in which high volumes of consumption is a fairly recent concept can be harmful to individual happiness. Individuals in less developed countries should be aware that happiness is not based on the amount of material good one possesses but rather on their own emotional well-being and the well-being of those around them. Studies have shown that people in rich countries who have a higher income and are able to spend more on material goods are no happier than those that...