Discerning the Difference between Needs and Wants | Teen Ink

Discerning the Difference between Needs and Wants

December 11, 2012
By David2 BRONZE, Melbourne, Florida
David2 BRONZE, Melbourne, Florida
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

There is a serious problem in Today’s society of instant gratification. People often tend to get their wants more than their needs. Everybody wants the Big screen TVs, or the newest phone, or the next video game. People have been focused on getting what they, or the rest of what society desires, and have been forgetting about their basic needs. Some people would rather get the fancy phone or fancy car and not have enough money for food. People who are homeless or jobless or on welfare, receiving money for food, and they all almost have a cell phone. My argument is that people need to refocus on the difference between their needs and wants, and realize that their wants come second. People need to focus on their discretion, their moral compass, their good judgment to realize that difference between needs and wants.
Part of this issue has come from today’s society being so easily rewarded for doing actions such as texting or email. People no longer have to wait for responses for days on end; now, if they ask, they receive instantly. In reality, it still takes tine for things to work. For example, when you send a text message, usually the person replies almost instantly, making you want to send more messages to be rewarded by receiving more. When the Internet is slower than how it would normally work, not only does it seem like a lifetime for it to finally resume, but also it can be irritating. What people have begun to forget is that there is life outside of the cell phone and handheld devices. People are losing social skills and text rather than confront either issues or events in person. This is a major issue for society.
Action must be taken, this is a war that has already started, and everyone needs to take a step back and reevaluate those differences between necessities and desires. What people need to realize is that, yes the fancy cars and new phones are nice to have, but do you really need them? People in the 1800s survived without cell phones, more importantly cars. And, shouldn’t it be common sense that people would get needs before their wants, for example, when you need to eat, your stomach growls and tells you, I’m hungry. But does your stomach growl when you need a phone? A car? You can’t really eat a car or a phone; it would hurt… a pretty decent amount, plus be highly unsatisfying of a meal. Some pasta or chicken would do much better, and probably taste extremely better than a car. This desire for what we want at any instant, and our reactions to whether we get what we want or not, need to be put in check, and people need to realize that their needs are just the slightest bit more important.


The author's comments:
This piece isto help individuals recognize how often the believe that their wants are their needs, even though that is not always true. I may do more eith this later, but for now, its coming to Teen Ink

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