Media Consumption and Materialism/Consumerism
Globally, consumption and materialism have become a fundamental component of the prevailing culture. Humans consume a myriad of products and resources that extend beyond their basic necessities to include technological innovations and luxuries aimed at improving efficiency and quality of life. Throughout history, consumption beyond basic needs has served as a method of boosting human happiness. Hence, excessive consumption does not necessarily pose harm to human life (Shah). Increasingly, however, important issues regarding media consumption and materialism have emerged in recent decades. As such, this study examines the neuroscience of human emotions, the use of recreational substances, and the role of media and celebrity culture in promoting consumption and consumerism.
Materialism/Physicalism
Physicalism is a concept that views everything as being physical or that all things supervene on the physical. Typically, the idea is considered a metaphysical hypothesis, parallel to Thales’ thesis that all things are water or Berkeley’s idealism that mentality is the essence of everything (Stoljar). In general, physicalism argues that the entire universe conforms to the physical condition. Although physicalists agree that the real world contains social, moral, psychological, and biological items that initially appear non-physical, they assert that every item is physical or supervenes on the physical (Stoljar). Accordingly, physicalism is also regarded as ‘materialism.’ However, some philosophers point out that materialism is slightly distinct from physicalism. For instance, materialists have historically maintained that matter is the essence of everything- where matter describes “an inert, senseless substance, in which extension, figure, and motion do actually subsist” (Stoljar). Unfortunately, physics has demonstrated that the materialists’ definition of matter cannot be applied to every item in the actual world. For example, certain forces like gravity exhibit physical characteristics but do not show a material nature in the conventional sense. However, although physicalism is unusual in the doctrines of metaphysics due to its commitment to the field of physics, there is no adequate reason for not describing it as ‘materialism’ (Stoljar). Besides, contemporary physicalists often employ the concept of ‘materialism’ when describing their doctrine. Additionally, although ‘physicalism’ is related to the scientific branch of ‘physics,’ the concept is associated with ‘physical objects’ that are in turn linked to ‘material objects’ and ‘matter’ (Stoljar). In numerous cases, materialism emphasizes the primacy of acquiring large quantities of materials and, thus, promotes the concept of consumerism or a culture of excessive consumption.
Consumerism
Consumerism refers to the view that personal happiness or wellbeing is heavily dependent on the degree of individual consumption, especially the buying of material commodities. Essentially, consumerism is not just the belief that wellbeing is based on high living standards, but the view that material possessions and excessive consumption are the foundations of happiness (“Chapter 7” 1). Thus, a consumerist society can be described as involving people who devote a significant amount of time, resources, and energy to ‘consuming.’ In fact, the typical understanding of everyday life in such a society is that consuming “is good, and more consumption is even better” (“Chapter 7” 1).
Consumerism or the excessive utilization of services and goods, in larger and larger quantities, is a common phenomenon that began during the early human civilizations. In the mid-eighteenth Century, a considerable tide of consumerism hit North America and Europe due to “Industrial Revolution and the transformation of Western Europe’s and North America’s economies” (“Area of Inquiry” 1). Numerous industrial processes were mechanized leading to the freeing of a significant proportion of the national workforce, especially farmers. Consequently, the changes fuelled population growth and steered the Industrial Revolution. Since industrialization established suitable conditions for the mass generation and consumption of commodities, vast quantities of commercially produced goods suddenly became available and accessible at extremely low prices. Subsequently, World War II created a strong urge to preserve natural resources because the War’s demands resulted in resource scarcity. Accordingly, authorities in the US launched massive campaigns urging Americans to embrace patriotism and conserve natural resources, as well as increase resource sharing and recycling (“Area of Inquiry” 1). As such, frugality emerged as the norm throughout the United States. During the 1950s, nonetheless, the country’s labor force and factories that used to generate ships, planes, and weapons during WWII became idle. As a result, the government felt the need to employ the idle workforce, end austerity penchant in the population, and create a culture of consumption (“Area of Inquiry” 1). In 1955, one architect of the consumerist society, Victor Lebow, remarked that the country’s immensely productive economy required the people to embrace a consumerist culture, convert the purchase and utilization of commodities into a ritual, and seek ego satisfaction in consumption. The retail analyst also asserted that the nation needed “things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing pace” (“Area of Inquiry” 1). Such lines of thinking were responsible for the launching of a consumerist way of life and the growth of Canada’s and United States’ conspicuous consumption that prevails to date. Thus, cognitive processes have a significant impact on emotions, which in turn influence consumer behavior.
Neuroscience of Human Emotions and Behavior
Throughout each day, a person experiences different emotions, which are often naturally transient. Sometimes, however, the emotions intensify or become unremitting leading to dramatic changes in behavior. For instance, depression is a condition characterized by a persistent sadness that includes a decrease in the affected person’s ability to find joy even while in a positive situation. Typically, the basic emotions experienced by all humans are disgust, sadness, pleasure, fear, and anger (“The Neurobiology” 929). Such emotions are conceptualized in relation to their adaptive or functional primacy. Negative emotions like fear and anger often ameliorate defensive tendencies whereas pleasure facilitates sexual, exploratory, ingestive, and novel-seeking behaviors (“The Neurobiology” 929). Therefore, feelings and emotions play a crucial role in the achievement of homeostasis or the facilitation of equilibrium and adaptive behaviors. Although external stimuli can elicit emotions, a stimulus must have motivational significance or relevance to guide adaptive and appropriate behavior. For example, stimuli are vital for the development and guidance of conduct, especially when a person is making choices. Furthermore, emotions are perceived as instinctive and primitive responses that function independently and without the influence of cognitive activities. Despite the fact that various environmental elements can stimulate emotional responses, a cognitive-emotional interaction facilitates the emotional elicitation experienced every day (“The Neurobiology” 929). In humans and other primates, the brain possesses a striking ability to remember or learn the emotional importance of various events and stimuli. Moreover, human’s cognitive capacity helps in assigning emotional valence to a stimulus while altering values that were initially assigned to the same stimulus. For instance, positive experiences may allow a child who was initially scared of dogs to eventually approach and enjoy interacting with dogs. A similar experience is observed in human relationships where seeing a particular girlfriend/boyfriend may initially elicit positive emotions such as happiness and desire. After the relationship breakups, however, the same stimulus may elicit negative emotions like anger, tension, and anxiety. Two critical ideas can be derived from the second example. First, the perceptual or sensory understanding of the individual who acts as a stimulus remains the same. The emotional expression may also remain physically unchanged through expressions such as increased breathing, flushed sensations, and a racing heart. Secondly, the emotional response to the stimulus is dependent on cognitive or intellectual processing. Put differently, the person’s stimulus evaluation combined with previous experiences influences the conscious feelings of anger or joy. Research on brain functions has revealed that such cognitive-emotional processes are associated with distinct neural pathways (“The Neurobiology” 930).
Neurobiologists have studied the neural foundations of emotion for several decades. Early investigations suggested that certain brain regions control the emotional expression of behavior (“The Neurobiology” 930). More recent studies, nonetheless, have placed emphasis on the function of monoamine and limbic systems in the expression of emotions. For example, amygdala is one of the key limbic structures that play a decisive role in determining a person’s feelings by facilitating the evaluation of a stimulus’ emotional valence (“The Neurobiology” 930). Extensive research on amygdala’s lesions has yielded substantial support for the critical role of amygdala in valence assessment. Animals with such lesions, for instance, often fail to associate various environmental stimuli with emotional states (“The Neurobiology” 930). In particular, they experience significant challenges in learning that a certain stimulus predicts danger or reward. They may also show a decrease in affiliative behavior. In addition, emotional behavior modifications may occur due to damage in other structures of the limbic system. Recent investigations have shown that various chemical neurotransmitters modulate the brain structures and neural circuits involved in the elicitation of emotions (“The Neurobiology” 929). Accordingly, neurobiologists have begun focusing on “the ascending monoamine systems,” which include the dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin systems (“The Neurobiology” 929). Their studies have demonstrated that a person’s normal arousal and emotional states are highly dependent on the balancing among monoaminergic systems and other neurotransmitters.
Substance Use
The recent emergence of consumerism and materialism have created a popular culture involving activities such as risk taking and adventure, as well as the taking of recreational drugs. Substance utilization is not a recent phenomenon because people have used numerous psychoactive substances throughout history. The reasons for their use have ranged from medicinal purposes to the significance of such substances in ceremonies and rituals. Moreover, substance use is often seen as a fundamental social act where people acquire drugs, consume them, and compare the experience of utilizing certain drugs to other psychoactive substances (Rickwood et al. 2). Friends, families, legal systems, workplaces, religious and cultural practices, health care systems, and the media form a part of the vast spectrum of factors that influence the society’s actions and beliefs about substance use. Therefore, debate and discussion about the use of psychoactive substances should consider the broad context in which recreational drugs as used, in addition to examining the users’ personalities and the substances’ characteristics.
Globally, people utilize substances for different reasons and in a variety of ways throughout their lives. For instance, young people may decide to take a recreational drug due to “a rational appraisal process, rather than a passive reaction to the context in which a substance is available” (Boys et al.). Reasons for taking such drugs range from broad statements such as a need to stop sadness to specific reasons like the need to promote self-confidence. Consequently, stimulant drugs like cocaine, ecstasy, and amphetamines are often used to ameliorate the arousal of the nervous system whereas sedative drugs like cannabis and alcohol are taken to minimize depression.
Primarily, substance use seems to change over time with distinct developmental patterns being evident. Usually, individuals who occasionally take a certain drug for some time may become frequent users of the same drug during another period of their life and later become abstainers. In alcohol use, for instance, young people tend to become infrequent binge drinkers whereas middle-aged individuals drink regularly and moderately. Older people, however, are most likely to become abstainers (Rickwood et al. 4). Typically, adolescence involves a stage of life filled with special interest in substance use. In addition, the life-stage also marks the duration when the initial substance use occurs. According to diverse researchers, sixteen years is the average age when most smokers become initiated to tobacco smoking (Rickwood et al. 4). Alcohol use often begins at the age of seventeen years whereas the use of illicit substances commences at the age of nineteen years. Since adolescence is the stage of testing boundaries, experimentation, and risk-taking, the experimental utilization of alcohol, tobacco, and other substances can be viewed as a part of the developmental process. Adolescence is also the stage when numerous mental health issues begin to emerge with many juveniles turning to the harmful use of alcoholic drinks. In adulthood, the use of recreational substances is a common habit with over eighty-four percent of adults consuming alcohol annually (Rickwood et al. 4). Generally, men are more apt to consume alcohol and take other drugs than women. Also, substance use in women is often different when compared to drug use in men. Although researchers are still working to identify the unique factors associated with substance use in women, special attention should be focused on women who are pregnant because drug use and alcohol consumption can have adverse impacts on their children. Moreover, doping or the utilization of performance-enhancing drugs in sport should also be taken into account, especially in the wake of the recent doping scandal that has affected Russian and Kenyan athletes (Ingle, 2016). Basically, various unique cultural, social, and individual factors have contributed to the doping problem- which has emerged as an area of significant concern for athletes and other stakeholders. Although substance use may benefit individuals in different ways, there is a need to minimize its harmful impacts on consumers and the society.
Media Consumption
Advances in sophisticated advertising techniques and methods have turned luxuries into basic needs or created necessities that were previously inexistent. For example, the media’s ability to influence consumer tastes and trends through music, television shows and movies has been all-pervasive. Similarly, Internet sites and other forms of New Media have continued to accelerate consumers’ receptivity to various products through tantalizing comments and Ads on blogs and websites. Popular films such as the 1999 American Beauty, which explores the themes of happiness, sex, and the American culture, have also helped to promote consumerism and materialism. Thus, the media’s influence on consumer behaviors has been profound with billions of dollars being spent annually on advertising. Usually, people are unaware that the media has a significant influence on buying preferences and consumer purchasing. During teenage years, for instance, the Internet, television, and magazines function as powerful information sources. As a result, marketers effectively target teenagers due to the adolescents’ vulnerability, trendsetting ability, spending habits, and mass consumption of digital and print media (Vandana and Lenka). Typically, the effects of marketing campaigns on adolescents include a committed loyalty to a specific brand and an upsurge of materialistic urges. Although peers and parents lay the foundation for most of the values held by teenagers, media marketing continues to influence such values. Some of the effects that extend beyond adolescence include work addiction and difficulties in adjusting to an independent life with few luxuries. Although solutions to the problem are limited, parents, educators, and the society should teach financial independence and responsibility, as well as assist juveniles in setting their personal boundaries.
Celebrity Culture
Over the years, the mass media has glorified famous people’s exploits in every part of the world, to the extent that being talked about and recognized globally has become one of the most desirable goals for individuals in the present-day society. However, the psychology of celebrity and fame has remained a highly restricted academic subject with only a few researchers conducting largely speculative investigations on the topic (Rockwell and Giles 179). One of the primary limitations of such studies has been the lack of adequate empirical contribution because famous people are often difficult to include as participants in a particular research. Rockwell and Giles, nevertheless, succeeded in interviewing various celebrities in an effort to comprehend the experience of being a famous person (179). Essentially, fame is defined as “a long-standing phenomenon largely deriving from mass society, typically urban, in which individuals are glorified for their deeds” whereas celebrity is “a modern phenomenon related to mass media” (Rockwell and Giles 179). The concept of celebrity is often promoted by the Internet, television, magazines, newspapers, and art forms like pop music. Teenage movies, such as the 2004 Mean Girls, have also played an important role in enhancing the celebrity culture. Hence, the phenomena of celebrity and fame, which occur through media exposure and glorification, respectively, coincide in the modern culture causing a local TV personality to be accorded as much fame as Shakespeare (Chamorro-Premuzic). The celebrity culture has both beneficial and adverse consequences for an individual. With regards to self, for example, fame leads to symbolic immortality, gratification of egoistic needs, demanding expectations, idolization, and loss of privacy (Rockwell and Giles 178). In relation to the world, fame raises concerns regarding family impact, generates wealth, and leads to temptations. In addition, psychologists have highlighted areas of concern for a celebrity’s mental health. Such aspects include the unwillingness to abandon fame, feelings of isolation, character-splitting, and mistrust (Rockwell and Giles 178). Thus, the celebrity status involves the temporal phases of adaptation, acceptance, addiction, and hate or love.
In conclusion, consumption and materialism are fundamental aspects of the contemporary culture. Globally, people consume different products and resources that often extend beyond their basic necessities. Additionally, the increasing popularity of materialism or physicalism continues to promote consumerism or the culture of excessive consumption. Hence, the present study has found that human emotions, recreational substance use, media consumption, and celebrity culture have contributed to shaping the contemporary culture that emphasizes materialistic tendencies.
Works Cited
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