Forever Shopping
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The 2017 Global Online Consumer Report, which surveyed 18,430 people in 50 countries, noted that "millions of consumers no longer 'go' shopping, but literally 'are' shopping - at every moment and everywhere."
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Compulsive Buying Disorder (CBD)
Definition: Compulsive Buying Disorder is a behavioral addiction marked by persistent, poorly controlled urges to purchase non-needed items, leading to distress and functional impairment (personal, social, or occupational).
Mechanism: Buying episodes often provide short-term relief from anxiety/loneliness/low mood, followed by guilt or regret; loss of control persists despite awareness of debt, clutter, and stress.
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Social proof
Definition: Social proof is the tendency to use others’ behavior as a decision shortcut under uncertainty (Cialdini, 1984), reducing search costs while compressing independent deliberation
For example, the “same-style” effect, where seeing a celebrity or classmates adopt an item normalizes it as “necessary,” nudging replacement without true need.
Humanistic view: As Fromm (1941) argued, such conformity can be an avoidance of the anxiety of freedom and responsibility, eroding autonomy and value alignment over time.
Why
so addicted?
For many families, overconsumption does not begin with climate reports; it begins on a phone screen. Low-cost but high-frequency shopping make it easy for students to spend first and think later. Shopping becomes a quick way to manage boredom, stress, or loneliness—while debt, clutter, and distraction quietly build up in the background.
For students, time and attention are pulled away from study and rest; deep focus erodes, and “buying something” becomes a default emotional response. For parents, anxiety grows: tuition, rent, and daily costs are already high, yet children are encouraged by the online environment to define identity and belonging through what they buy, not what they can do or who they become.
Behind these everyday habits is a larger structural warning. Each year, Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity has used up the planet’s renewable ecological budget. In 2025, it fell on July 24—about 1.8 Earths; in 2024, on August 1（~1.7 Earths）. Persistent “overshoot” shows that overconsumption is not just about individual willpower, but a pattern that weakens long-term security for the very generation we hope to protect.
problem
Causes
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Financial harm: escalating overspend and debt, damaged credit, neglected essentials (rent, bills, savings).
Time & attention loss: compulsive browsing/buying crowds out study/work; reduced deep-focus capacity and academic performance.
response
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In PPE100, we turn overconsumption from a silent habit into a question students can think through for themselves. We are not asking students to stop shopping. Our aim is to understand the full scope of the problem and what it takes to move from being an overconsumer to becoming a responsible consumer—and to live more consciously and responsibly.
