I Didn’t Need It, But I Bought It Anyway by Shuxuan Chang

 I Didn’t Need It, But I Bought It Anyway by Shuxuan Chang

          Whenever I walk into a shopping mall, before even stepping into a specific store, I walk in telling myself, ”I'm just browsing. I already have everything I need and don't need to buy anything." Yet, all those thoughts vanish the moment I enter the shop; suddenly, I spot a host of products I don't own, and—acting on a mere impulse—I end up buying them.

          I have noticed that friends, classmates—and even other students at my school—all share this habit. For teenagers roughly my age, this has already become very common.  

          Sometimes, many factors influence our spending habits—the most common being social media. I frequently scroll through videos on social platforms, and whenever I come across something novel or trendy, I find myself unable to resist the urge to buy it. While part of me tells me not to do so, I still end up doing exactly what I told myself not to do. Sometimes, it’s not even about external influences. I’ve noticed that for the people around me—and even myself—whenever we’re in a bad mood, we tend to feel that our own happiness takes absolute priority. We might think, "Maybe buying something will help lift my spirits," and so we go ahead and buy it without a second thought. Of course, there are also times when I buy things just to keep up with trends, or simply because everyone else around me has them—after all, I can't let myself fall behind, right?

        Well, how should I put it? Spending isn't necessarily a bad thing. I feel that moderate consumption can bring me joy, allow me to experience new things, and provide a sense of fulfillment. Yet, sometimes I buy too much; looking back later, I wonder why I even made the purchase—after all, I already owned items just like them. Sometimes, I don't even truly understand my own emotions. Maybe the real question isn’t why we buy things, it's why it feels so easy to do that.