You Have No Say

There will be no stop in technology being updated every year. No matter what is the invention, people will want the more updated version than using the older version. Society may buy these technology, but at the end of the day, they don’t even need that technology in there daily lives. I believe the reason why people buy certain things is because they see these commercials, or ads, and that motivates them to buy those certain things. According to a short video called “The Story of Stuff” by Annie Leonard, Annie Leonard explains how “lack of love” is the reason why people buy tons of things that they do not need. This also shows a consumption pattern in society, because if a group has a certain technology, and one person doesn’t have it, that person would feel awkward of not having it, and that will make the person get it. Seeing how “lack of love” is a result of buying tons of things, “The All-Consuming Self” by Allen D. Kanner, Kanner demonstrates advertising is the answer to why people buys updated technology each year. Due to “The Story of Stuff” and “The All-Consuming Self”, society can finally understand why there’s a nonstop of buying certain things that are useless.

In “The Story of Stuff”, Leonard talks about how people can be pressured to buy certain things. In other words, people will have a different vibe on someone if they do not have a specific technology that their friends don’t have. For example, if all of my friends have the new iphone 3G, and I just have the old version of the iphone, my friends will not act the same towards me. This shows lack of love, because since I don’t have the new iphone, my friends aren’t showing me the same love they have for me as a friend. Since I know that they are acting different, this is tempting me to buy the new iphone than staying with the one that I have. As a result, showing less love to someone will make that person think twice on buying something.

In “The All-Consuming Self”, Allen D. Kanner shows how advertising and commercials is the answer to why people keeps on buying technology. According to Christopher Lasch, “…convincing people to buy goods for which they are unaware of any need until the need is forcibly brought to their attention by the mass media.” (Kanner 81) This illustrates that society is brainwashed by the media, and they buy things that they do not use, but because of the media, they believe that they need it. This also motivates society to buy it, because the commercial shows hype to what is being advertised. Among both the article, and the short video, one can see how someone is desired to buy someone, because of the commercials, or the way ones peers are treating them. In my point of view, I believe that there will be no stop to buy certain things that there is no need in an everyday life. People will keep on buying junk, because the media, and people around will convince anyone why you need these things, when u really don’t.