Self-esteem, level of consciousness and consumption

Mass advertising through traditional media and, today, with a greater presence in social networks, encourages, moves, or stimulates consumption. This society has dramatically influenced the way we value ourselves. It has promoted standards of evaluation of happiness or personal success closely linked to the consumption we can carry out. This is also what they teach us in the first courses on microeconomic theory, in which happiness depends on the amount consumed.

I am an economist and had to study hard to pass my microeconomics courses. The theory could have been interesting in understanding certain aspects of consumer and producer decision-making, but linking happiness to the amount consumed today, I consider quite limited and imprudent.

This theory and way of understanding the environment was promoted since Adam Smith, an English philosopher and economist, at the beginning of the industrial revolution, made a reasonable interpretation of what he observed in his environment and captured it in the classic work of economics entitled "The Wealth of Nations". Since then, things have changed to some extent, and knowledge regarding human behavior and needs has also advanced, thanks to science, God, and human curiosity.

Today, it is essential that we have several issues clear. First, the theory says that consumption can generate happiness or increase well-being up to a certain point. After this, the marginal benefit of consuming decreases until reaching the point where consuming is more uncomfortable or hindering. Second, for people with a level of consciousness oriented towards power or success in business, this theory of consumption and happiness is more applicable than for people with a level of consciousness oriented towards the environment, ecology, or the future of humanity.

Third, although economic theory indicates the above, there are people with different levels of consciousness (although the consciousness of power and success prevails), the advertising bombardment, the idealized lifestyles and the almost infinite amount of goods that we cannot consume, even if we can buy them, can generate emptiness and frustration in many people who have adopted as their own the standards of self-esteem that the consumer society tries to impose.

It is impossible to achieve a healthy self-esteem when the standard can never be met. One could never have or consume everything offered in today's advertising; drinking more will always be possible. These standards do not help people feel good about themselves; more mature people have better arguments for not getting carried away by this tendency. However, young people are more susceptible because of the need for acceptance that they may have in adolescence and the first years after it.

Some people never overcome these standards and do not recognize where they are or what the way out is. They are the victims of having accepted values ​​or principles that govern their lives that can never be satisfied, or worse still, they are values ​​that have them chasing the ghosts of happiness that will never be seen. By this means, it is impossible.

This whole situation leads to the constant suffering of many people's self-esteem, which limits their ability to reconfigure their lives and reach their true development potential with a well-founded purpose. It is a shame that consumer society seeks these behaviors, but they are doing their job and business. The question would be: Are we doing ours? They say, "The current carries away a shrimp that falls asleep."