This topic is very dear to me. I have spent quite a lot of time thinking of this topic and everything that comes with it. I guess my journey onto the path of conscious consumerism started when I became a parent. I was very finicky the first time around, nothing went into my first born child’s stomach or touched his skin without being carefully researched by me and met my long list of must-have features or ingredients. As much as I was particular about what products my baby consumed or used, I did not apply the same enthusiastic fervor to my health and my surroundings. I learnt to be mindful of this aspect of my life much later, you can say I grew up with my child. The more I indulge in this way of life, the better my life seems to be becoming. I hope to pass on some of my enthusiasm to everyone and hopefully all of us can be conscious consumers.
Conscious Consumer is that person who is aware and mindful of how and what she/he is buying in exchange for their hard earned money. We all have been consumers all our life, and we know how to be a consumer. What we need to learn is to be a conscious consumer. Thanks to media, and a few vociferous health professionals and experts, we now know that reading labels of products we intend to buy and then base our buying decision on those facts. Having said that, how many of us do that, with all our products? Very few, and I say this only because the companies and brands making and selling these harmful and not-so-healthy products seem to be growing in size. The buying patterns have changed in the last 15 years, but is the dent big enough to make companies change up their formulas or replace products altogether. The trend that I have noticed is that companies have kept existing products and added a “healthier” line of products to their repertoire of existing products and product lines.
Conscious consumerism is practice that needs to be done daily, at every moment of our life when we are consuming something, anything. Things we consume from the time we wake up. Our morning alarm, our toothpaste, toothbrush, mouthwash, face-wash, soap, shampoo, towel, clothes, the music you listen to, the news you look at, the social media you surf, like, comment, share, retweet; the movie or documentary you watch on any digital screening platform like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.; the food you eat, the medicines you take, the health supplements you use, the car you drive, the type of fuel used by your car, the books you read, the newspapers you read, the pen you use, the water you drink, the food delivery service you use. All these and more are things that we consume in one day of our life. And the list can go on and on and on…depending on each and every individual.
When I go through the list above, I can say that I am a conscious consumer when it comes to 45-50% of things concerning my food, clothes/clothing and home. I am still not where I want to be. My journey started some years back, say 12 years back, and I have not reached close to where I would like to be. Being mindful and aware of what I buy, where I buy it from, where it is made, etc. influence my buying decisions. When it comes to media consumption – I have made changes to suite my mindset, I stopped buying newspapers, I browse through the news on a few chosen websites. I stopped going to movie theaters to watch films featuring a certain actor after seeing that he walked out scot-free after driving his vehicle over unsuspecting, innocent people sleeping on the pavement. The final ruling of the case was that nobody knows who was driving that vehicle! Anyways…I could write more about that but this is not it’s right place. Basically, what I want to showcase is how some changes in our opinion, views and perceptions can change with knowledge and time and thus impact our buying decision.
One must practice mindfulness in buying decisions and remember that what we buy or give power to (our money and time) only grows big and becomes more powerful. You empower everything that you invest time, money and efforts in. So it is very necessary to think and buy things only after giving due thought to the entire process.
I also realized that during this period of lockdown, we as parents have been the subject of amusement and observation of our children like never before! Then why not utilize this time with them to share knowledge and experience about being a mindful and conscious consumer. Our children are also being heavily targeted by brand managers to entice them into buying or forcing their parents to buy a particular thing, be it chocolates, bikes, toys, video games, mobile apps, video content on streaming platforms, etc. I believe that what I learnt can create such a beautiful and meaningful impact on my children’s life when I share my knowledge and experiences with them. They will grow up to be conscious consumers and they can start practicing that from this very day.
Think about it, think of ways in which you can be a conscious and mindful consumer. Make those changes in your life bit by bit. A step a day in the right direction eventually leads you to the desired destination.
