Letter: Do we live to consume, or consume to live?

By Letter to the Editor on April 10, 2025.

Dear editor,

We aren’t people anymore. We are instead labelled “consumers,” so therefore our value depends on how much we consume. We are but cogs in the consumption-for-consumption-sake economic machine. Or are we?

Media commentators and so-called social influencers give us this “consumer” label over and over. We must buy more to prevent economic recession. Wants become needs.

Does it matter if marketers view us as something other than people? Does it matter if our smart phones and laptops and TVs and radios fill with such messages? How motivated would anybody be to care for the faceless cogs?

I still think we are people. People with hopes and dreams. People with value that transcends what we buy.

I’m tired of social media algorithms and oppressive consumerism. I reject the suggestion that buying more stuff we don’t need is a reflection of our worth.

Today’s satisfaction becomes tomorrow’s not enough. It must expand. It must grow.

I think it causes stress, anxiety and reduced self-esteem, and it’s a greedy monster we’ve created. Do we live to consume, or consume to live?

Ray Marco

Dunmore

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