In the contemporary era, many people worldwide often adopt disposable culture, in which things are thrown away when they are broken and are superseded by brand-new ones. In the past, however, things were made use of despite blemishes. This essay will outline some underlying causes behind this phenomenon before elaborating on the consequences of it.
The proliferation of engagement in disposable culture could be attributed to economic issues. Historically, economic growth was pale compared with the current state of the economy, which results in the deficiency of an individual’s purchasing power. This inferiority incentivized people to make more prudent purchases and to utilize useful things instead of doing away with them. In addition, regarding the rising cost of reparation in the modern society, more people may gravitate towards allocating their expenditure on completely new alternatives rather than spending a great fortune on fixing things in order to be more economical. Last but not least, psychological reasons emerging within the advent of a materialistic society demotivates individuals from taking advantage of old things,whereby the concern that using repaired things would be stigmatized and looked down upon acts as the most powerful deterrent.
Accordingly, this has led to several problems. Chief among which is the rise in environmental issues. As there is a rise in the quantity of goods purchased, the demand of raw materials for the input, correspondingly, increases, thereby leading to the potential depletion of available natural resources. Second, it is the younger generations that may be psychologically affected by the throwaway culture. Youngsters are often impressionable, this inquisitive trait may contribute to the vulnerability to current trends, tempting them to embrace consumerism behaviors. As a consequence, this may exacerbate the existential problem, leading to insurmountable hurdles relevant to this throwaway culture, such as financial instability, mental issues,…
In conclusion, there are multifaceted rationales behind this increasingly common throwaway culture in today’s society, with the most dominant being finance and psychology. In particular, this disposable culture leads to manifold corresponding problems, which left unresolved may lead to far-reaching influences.