Modern society changes rapidly, and nothing demonstrates better than the change of leisure activity of young people. Young people in the old times used to read, do sports or even listen to music. Now, the younger generation seems to be obsessed in shopping, purchasing fancy stuff and posting on their social media accounts. By no means other activities are extinct, but the act of buying items from clothing and electronics, to accessories and jewlery, are taking a much larger proportion than other habits. There are several reasons behind the phenomenon.
First, youth are still youth, almost all human being in this stage care about their apperance and others’ perceptions on them. Some teenageers might impress people through what they wear or what they use. The higher the price tags of their belongings, the higher the level of their wealth. This gives them confidence in front of their peers, in an attempt to seek their approval. This desire for “fitting in” in their social circle might encourage them to purchase more, even when it is their free time. Second, youths nowadays have more than one identities. Young people, decades ago might only have a single purpose, which is to be a student and learn. However, contemporary society encourage teenagers to look for jobs and earn their own living. With an increased purchasing power through their salary, young people are more likely to be able to afford shopping as their free time activity.
Third, the advancement of technology pushes the young people towards consumerism. Shopping transitted from an active activity to a (rather) passive activity, anything from anywhere in the world could reach one’s door step with a simple click on the laptop or a tap on the phone. Nearly every commercial you see on street, transportation, urges you to purchase their products. Even staying at home, the un-skippable advertisement on video-watching applications would inevitably pops up. The youths are no doubt one of the most affected generations. Since their time of their birth, they have already been surrounded by this type of digital consumerism, pushing them to be part of this practice.
Shopping itself, is not a problem, but when it becomes a daily practice of looking for unnecessary goods to take home, something needs to be done. One of the ways is to encourage young people to participate in more activities in their free time. As mentioned above, one of the reasons why young people buy more now is that it is deemed as a way to acquire confidence among their friends group. Joining different activites, such as sports and music would increase the chances of them to discover their strength and passion, constructing self-esteem and identity. They would also be more likely to meet new friends, forming new friendships that is not built upon materials but momories and bonding. Menwhile, diverting their focus away from the digital world also limit their exposure to consumerism, staying away from those kinds of tenptations and toxic influences. To sum up, with shopping becoming more common among youths, questions were raised on what caused such transition. Youth’s self-recognition and changing identity and technological advancement are some of the main causes, and exposing them to different acitivites and alternatives might be the way out. Although not all reasons and solutions were discussed, remaining critical of the root cause of such issue and aware of the rapid changes of the society would be the key to become resilient in the modern world.