Consumerism is just a distraction.

Look, everyone likes good, high quality stuff. As you get older you realise that its more prudent to buy high quality stuff, as opposed to cheap things as it generally lasts longer and the quality is a better investment.

For example - I bought a £100 pair of shorts recently. Why? Because they were super well made, and I know they will last me years. Whereas a pair from Next will most likely last me a year, and not really quite work.

I think the same general applies for most things. Electrical goods, cars, shoes etc.

With this said - materialism, and consumerism isn’t about quality. It’s about being sold to and falling for it. It’s about believing advertising and marketing and letting them convince you that you needs loads of stuff, and overly priced stuff to fit in and fulfil societal norms.

Advertising hits at our insecurities, ego, and gaps in our lives. It makes us think that if we just had that thing, or that slightly bigger version of what we’ve already got, that will make us more complete. It’s easily done - we all do it.

However, when it comes to choosing a life that serves you, the sooner we all realise that we don’t need half of the things we convince ourselves of, the better off we will all be.
Rather than wasting money on things that we think other people will like - use that money wisely and realise it doesn’t matter.

Don’t build a business, try and advance your career to get more stuff - make progress to build wealth that can serve you in the life that you are looking for. Trust me materialism isn’t what you are looking for. Real wealth is different to owning pointless stuff.