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LEARNING CONSUMER

Today’s trend in the world of consumerism is revealed by the coming of new society: learning consumer. They are young people who are always conditioned to learn and consume. New product with the latest version always attract and invite new consumer as it offers convenience, pleasure, and entertainment. It has become reality that young people have high expectation of living in the electronic life of automatization – less physical mobilization, more need on practicality and time efficiency. There is typical character to deserve easy access for information in order to be more knowledgable. This fact follows creation of new needs – being highly informed. Consequently, this creation of new needs and consumers (by market mechanism) has brought into another reality – a learning consumer.

As capitalism and capitalist culture are still very dominant, they successfully sell the idea of consumption as an effective tool to consume more. Consumption culture which has been created by capitalism values to more convenience to consume. Market mechanism in capitalist culture is more on developing effective tools for consumption. See what happen in the market now is the culture of easiness – easy life for the sake of time. There has been trend of competitive market which only sells newness – new version of gadget. Instead of being creative to return the humanity side of consumer – consumer as a subject, creativity in the competitive market promotes values of being smart and intelligent object. In addition, failure of capitalism is that it always avoids dichotomy material and immaterial. Therefore, material is the end while immaterial is (perhaps) relying on religion. Immaterial world is too abstract for capitalism.

Learning consumer in those perspective  is craving to find and learn new things without being able to critisize or to position himself as the one who should take control. It is blinded by unstoppable desire (to consume) that consumer has ambition to explore new needs and, at the same time, finding the most effective way to satisfy. As usual, young people become the easy target. Now, they know well how to select – best selection but out of critisizing themselves to control desire and needs. Through revolutionary market creativity they profoundly achieve skills to find the best product. It seems to be unfair to see the reality of dominant market but it is really needed and widely accepted./@3_2012

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