50 Insightful, Funny, and Worrying Takes on This Consumer Society We've Created

We live in a society based on consumerism. We constantly want more.

Hey, they’ve just released a new model of that thing I have but have never really used. But this time, it will be different.

I will actually use it. Yeah, that’s the story we sell to ourselves every time we hit that “Order” and “Buy Now!” button.

And we find ourselves in a constant, never-ending loop of buying and throwing away hardly used products. And what about food?

That’s even worse. For instance, in times when there are thousands of people literally starving, we throw away tons of food.

All because something looked really tasty or because of that recipe we saw on Instagram.

We bought all the ingredients for it while fully aware of the fact that we were never going to make it. But we bought the ingredients nonetheless.

And since they’ve spoiled in the meantime, we throw them away, which makes us angry at ourselves.

The anti-consumption subreddit r/AntiConsumption is a great example of this. Its 294K members analyze, debate, and discuss anything related to consumerism, presenting concrete examples of how the system has devolved.

This online group appeals to many since it doesn't sound the alarm or proclaim the end of the world. Rather, it encourages us to take a step back and examine the world we have created for ourselves.

1. "There Are So Few Spaces Like This Left"

Route2FI

2. "Not Sure What They're Expecting"

jachymb

3. "We Need a Different Economy"

jasonhickel

4. "Thought This Belonged Here… It Drives Me Nuts How There Is Such a Purchase Culture Around Fitness and Health"

geminijubilee

5. "Consumption Is Most Ravenous at the Top of Society, Consuming Small Businesses Too"

ShibbyHaze1

6. "Remember Kids, 'Vegan Wool' Is Plastic. And When It Breaks, Its Decomposition Will Not Be Friendly"

Random_420-69

7. "Found on FB"

gingariffic

8. "What Up Water Homies"

notnowbutnever

9. "Bruh"

reddit.com

10. "You Know When You Can't Figure Out If Something Is Satire?"

wsgy111

11. "Plastic Straws and Sandwich Cutters Aren’t the Devil"

Renny-or-not

12. "Some Decent Tips I Think"

reddit.com

13. "The True Cost of Stuff"

Annonas

14. "Great to See Our Society as a Whole Progressing"

Quinny357

15. "It Do Be Like That"

heathens997

16. "Problem Solved"

undignified_cabbage

17. "Just Came Across This and I Just Wanted to Share It"

ellierue678

18. "You Are Enough"

Tea_cupsa

19. "What a Beautiful Billboard"

strawberryfairythug

20. "My Sister Asked Me to Buy These 2 Products for Her Birthday. This Is the Packaging for 10 ml of Product"

secretly-a-bear

21. "Brands Aren't Your Friends"

reddit.com

22. "I See This Every Year. Over 60,000 New iPhone & Samsung Cases Are Dumped Because They Won’t Fit the New Models"

carl0071

23. "Restaurant Asks Customers to Stop Wasting Buffet Food"

Yonski3

24. "😤"

MrsSnax

25. "Sometimes That's Hard to Forget with All the Advertisements for Sustainable Clothing Brands"

BigLino

26. "Useless Stuff Indeed"

Aryan__jain

27. "Old Bag, New Life: My Mom Spent the Day Removing the Old Straps from Her Swimming Bag and Replaced Them with What She Had at Home: Some Old Cargo Straps. I Think the Colors Work Really Great Together! Please Give Her a Thumbs Up!"

kziekh

28. "Croatian Company Made Their Toilet Paper Package with a Cool Dual Purpose"

TheWildHorse

29. "Absolutely Disgusting"

no-oxford-commas

30. "This 'Low Plastic' Pen Is a Perfect Metaphor for Environmentalism Under Capitalism"

tjeulink

31. "Permanent Permaculture"

madigolightly

32. "My Sister’s Gender Reveal 'Party.' Her Doctor Wrote the Baby’s Gender on a Piece of Paper. At the End of the Day, the Whole Family Joined a Video Call Where She Unfolded the Paper! That Was It!"

slimatuga

33. "Yep"

Thewalrus26

34. "Me Every Time There Is a Discussion About Straws"

xiouoix

35. "Put the Small Biz Before Big Biz"

leftistceo

36. Just Do It!

prettycritical

37. "This Changes Everything"

wendyburn

38. "My Work Requires Paper Charts and Maps, but They Expire Every Couple of Months. I Take the Expired Charts and Use Them as Wrapping Paper"

FluffonStuff

39. "Not Perfect Anti-Consumption, but I Used Black Takeout Containers and Old Greeting Cards to Give Out Homemade Cookies This Year"

Mathemasmitten

40. "Just Ewww"

fajorsk

41. "Bernie Showing Us All the Way"

Emmerson_Brando

42. "Less Ads, More Content Follow"

VisualImportant

43. "Living in the 20's"

Forest_of_Mirrors

44. "Great Idea Stolen from Facebook"

nishthenarwal

45. True

halletecco

46. "This"

sleepisocialist

47. "This Would Be Very Depressing"

ActNormalOrElse

48. "Our Economy Thrives on Insecurities"

rockinwalrus

49. "This Really Hit Home for Me to See Today!"

markianna

50. "To Keep Prices High"

omgno2trump

The capitalist system is based on never-ending expansion. It would collapse if people were satisfied with their current situation.

Capitalism maintained its pace throughout the twentieth century by transforming the average individual into a consumer with an insatiable desire for beautiful products. Buying all that new, shiny stuff keeps us entertained.

Hell, if it weren't for that, we could start thinking, and we could end up taking a good look at ourselves. And we wouldn't want that, right?