It is critically important that people buy things really based on their personal needs. Personally, I do agree that these days people are not doing so, instead strongly affected by others. I feel this way for two reasons, which I will explore in the following essay.
To begin with, people are driven by strong commercial stimulus. It is easy to notice that the businesses of almost every divisions are making great efforts to create fashion and trend, in order to make people spend their money. New merchandises come out to be a must-by everyday without any rest. Besides, infinite discounts and promotions are provided to make it silly not to buy. My personal experience is a compelling illustration of this. At one time, I was addicted in watching live shoppings on Taobao. The products exhibited were extremely cheap, and so many people were scrambling to make orders that I could not stop joining to place orders. For a dress which could cost 500 yuan offline only cost me less than 200 through this channel. Therefore, I could control myself, keeping watching the live streaming, and spent quite a lot of money to buy those economical merchandises, without much consideration of whether I needed them or not.
Secondly, quite often people buy things because they want to prove that they can also possess them. It mainly derives from the psychology of competition. Humans tend to compete with others and always feel like to win. So it's understandable that when most people around own something, you would probably feel eager to own it also, not only for its design or value, but also to show that you are also catching with the trend and able to afford. For instance, one of my friends bought an Apple notebook due to such a reason. Although he could not get used to its system ever, he still convinced himself that the notebook was a must-have for him. When we discussed the motivation of his purchase, he admitted that it's just because his friends around seemed all have an Macbook. After owning it, he only turned it on for a few times. My friend's example perfectly demonstrates this intention.
In conclusion, I'm in favor of the phenomenon that people are buying unnecessary things. This is because outside factors are pushing people to lose control of themselves and they are induced by their internal desire to show their capacity and exceed others.
