Consumerism is one of the strongest forces affecting your life.

The term ‘consumerism’ does not simply refer to immediate factors in your daily life such as the omnipresence of advertising, but anything connected to the overarching idea in modern Society that in order to be happier, better and more successful you have to have more stuff.

The massive amount of advertising is such a normal part of Society that you do not realise just how pervasive it is in your life.

As you go through your day tomorrow, notice the number of adverts you see and the sources from which they appear.

You will discover just how much of your valuable time and brain space advertisers are forcing themselves into. Surely you have better things to do during this period of ‘hijacked’ time.

You might argue that one should have the mental strength to resist the influence of an advertisement or a friend, or that consumerism is nothing more than a minor irritant in ones everyday life.

But that would be to underestimate its power. Exposure to one single advertisement is powerful enough to influence someone.

And this trap is very difficult to escape from. Such is its power, you may not even realise you are caught in the trap.

The real power of consumerism comes from its cumulative effect, the fact that it has seeped into every aspect of your life, and that these elements of our culture continually reinforce each other.

You slip into a cycle of wanting more things and the pursuit of these things takes up your time, energy, stress and money.

You constantly compare yourself with other people, wanting to be like them or in their position.

This leads you into a state of constant dissatisfaction – you are never happy with what you have and are always on edge.

And this is just what the logic of consumerism wants, as it makes us more active consumers on a continuous basis.

So, consumerism not only affects your behaviour (you spend more time on consumerist activities) but also your thinking (your aspirations, attitudes and worldviews).

Consumerism affects your worldviews and confuses you.

You might nevertheless feel somehow dissatisfied and empty, feeling that the pursuit of more possessions and the pressure of having to earn more money or sink into further debt to pay for this lifestyle is bringing more costs than benefits to your life.

It is extremely difficult to escape from your situation, as there are no dissenting voices on consumerism in Society – the mainstream idea does not incorporate the idea of escaping the consumerist trap.

Struggling with your consumerist lifestyle is unlikely to receive any kind of understanding, guidance or support from Society or your friends as they too are immersed within this Society.

You may believe that consumerism meets all your desires in life but it does not. It creates impossible aspirations. The principles it is based on make it a logical impossibility that it will make you happy.

A lack of fulfilment is built into the whole idea of consumerism. The system is not aimed at meeting human needs and interests, but at generating profit.