TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY: THAT IS THE QUESTION

With overconsumption once again taking hold, what does it mean for our planet and its people?

- YVETTE TAN

We live in a time where things be many can bought almost instantly and often, quite cheaply. This, coupled with the pressure to be on trend with the latest fad (a lot of it exacerbated by influencer culture), has led to a culture of buy, buy, buy.

Filipinos tend to be culturally maximalist. We like everything loud: our music, our celebrations, our decor, and given the opportunity, our clothes. We like things (and concepts) that are colorful, shiny, and preferably new. We also happen to be, not just the most chronically online country in the world, but also the one that consumes the most video content. All of these dovetail very neatly into today's consumption culture, where trends seem to shift faster than ever as people's attention spans get shorter and shorter.

It doesn't matter that the Philippines is a developing country; the budget-friendly items from manufacturing giants such as China that inundate our e-commerce sites ensure that the latest trends are always within our reach-and delivered to our doorstep, too! It also doesn't matter that these cheaply made, cheaply bought items wear and tear easily (you get what you pay for, after all). By the time the item breaks, a new fad has come along, so off to the dumpsite the old one goes!