Do ideas change very quickly? by Shuxuan Chang

 Do ideas change very quickly?

by Shuxuan Chang

        The moment I unlocked my phone, the messages popped up on my screen. I realized these weren’t from friends or family—but rather promotional messages sent by businesses. They seemed to be everywhere. 

        It feels like product recommendations are everywhere—constantly catching my eye and prompting me to shop. For instance, while scrolling through videos, the very next clip might suddenly feature a product that someone in the previous video had raved about. This creates an impulse to buy; after all, if so many people are saying it’s great—and I’ve seen plenty of positive reviews—it surely can’t be bad, right? Thinking along these lines, I go ahead and make the purchase. However, when the package finally arrives and I open it up, I often find that the actual item isn't nearly as impressive as it seemed online.  A similar phenomenon occurs when I’m browsing in physical stores: seeing signs advertising discounts of 50% or more creates a sort of illusion. 

        When I spot a heavily discounted item—realizing that the product itself is identical to the full-priced version, yet costs significantly less—I get the distinct feeling that if I don't buy it right then and there, I’ll be missing out on a golden opportunity.       

       This sort of thing happens to me all the time: initially, I have absolutely no intention of buying anything, but the more I look, the more I convince myself that I actually need it. It feels as though, with all this constant buying, my pocket money is slowly but surely slipping away. Maybe our ideas don’t change quickly—we just slowly start believing what we see most often.