IELTS essay - It has been suggested that everyone in the world want to own a car, a TV and a fridge. Do you think disadvantage of such a development outweigh advantages?

Today we belong to an era of materialism and everyone wants to have more and more in life. Things like a fridge, TV and car were the luxuries of yesteryears and have become the necessities of today. There are many advantages and disadvantages of this phenomenon but the disadvantages definitely outweigh the advantages.

On the positive side, the quest for material possessions is what keeps the society going. People work hard to fulfil their needs and achieve their goals. It is everyone’s right to own the comforts of life. Secondly, because of the demand for such things, the national economy is boosted. Manufacturing units provide round-the-clock employment to thousands of people to produce things in bulk. Mignon McLaughlin has rightly said that, “Be glad that you're greedy; the national economy would collapse if you weren't.”  What is more, when demand is more and mass production is done, then the cost of the things is cut down and the consumer is ultimately benefitted.  

On the downside, this is leading to stress and strain in the lives of people. People have become workaholics and are missing out on the joys of family and social life. Sometimes, people even adopt unethical means to get these things and this leads to crime and violence.

There is no harm in owning things such as a car, TV or fridge, but things turn bad when this simple materialism turns into over-materialism and people start wanting a TV in each and every room of the house and a car per person of the family. Our neighbours have a triple storey house and there is a refrigerator on every floor just for their comfort. People fail to draw the line between necessity and indulgence and this creates all problems. They fail to realize that - "If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough."

The most significant disadvantage of excessive materialism is on the environment. Manufacturers promote their products through ads and people are lured into buying new things even without need. It is a bitter truth that a society in which consumption is artificially stimulated in order to keep production going is a society founded on trash and waste, and such a society is a house built upon sand. For example, new models of TVs and refrigerators are introduced every other day and people just go and buy them even if they need those things or not. The disposal of old ones is adding to global litter and is destroying our environment.

To put it in a nutshell, I pen down saying that, there is no harm if everyone wants to own a fridge, a TV and a car but it would be much better if we give importance to the word ‘a’ and instead of everyone the word should be every family.