Nowadays shopping is an activity that has become ordinary in our lives. However, in the past, it used to be related to the domestic duties. I firmly believe that the rise of consumerism over the decades has deeply influenced our approach to acquiring goods, creating what I argue is a largely negative trend.
Some decades ago shopping was restricted to the minimun necessary things, such as forniture, food, medicines and so on. Every expenditure was strictly controlled and reduced to the bare minimum, exept for wealthier families that could afford more outgoings. A further aspect worth noting is that shopping was completely different from what we mean today: especially clothes were bought only in special occasions or for necessity, for instance when they were too degraded to be worn or the size too small. However, nothing was thrown away. In this sense, in the past, the logic of reuse was largely widespread, much more than today, and for this reason durability of things was longer and, as a consequence, buying new items was quite rare.
In contrast, today, shopping is considered as an hobby, something to do in the free time or, in some cases, even therapeutic. During the history of goods consuption the demand has increased and, as a consequence, the industry responded. Materials started to be less expensive and as a result objects and clothes were cheaper. This fueled the purchase of everything turning in excessive consumerism, definitely not a good trend. Nowadays every industry in the world uses this aspect of society to its advantage.
In conclusion, good news today is that more and more producers and designers are attempting to reintroduce the reuse of things and some recycling processes, in order to reduce the large amount of fast fashion and disposable objects. I personally hope in a future in which the good habit of give things a correct life returns to being ordinary also for the health of the earth.