Everyone has got their own set of needs and wants. A need is something that a person requires for daily usage and consumption, while a want is something that a person desires but will not affect his daily lifestyle if he does not have it. However as everyone is unique and different from one another, we may not have the same idea of what is a need and what is a want. What a person think is a need in life, may be interpreted as a want to another person because everyone has got different sets of needs.
As the living standards increases, it is generally harder to differentiate needs and wants as what was deem as a ‘want’ in the past, is now deem as a ‘need’. For example, a mobile phone was deemed as something only for businessmen or important people, at some point even as a luxurious item to show one’s status. However in today’s living standards, a mobile phone has turn into one of the basic needs as people need at least a simple phone to communicate. Another example would be branded goods. Brands that were seemed only meant for those in upper social group few years ago would be considered as a normal house brand for today. In fact in some societies, having at least a branded item is considered normal or even ‘necessary’.
Many people tend to confuse both needs and wants as it can be hard to prioritize what exactly a person needs, and what exactly a person can choose to live without. For example, a woman may think it is a need to have at least a few different pair of shoes in the closet for different occasions, while a man would think just one normal pair of shoe for all sorts of occasions would be sufficient. Because we all are brought up with different values, our perception of what is a need and what is a want can differ greatly from one another. Another example would be a child born in a well to do family may think having a maid in the house is one of a basic need at home, while a child born in an average class family would not think that way. Rather, the child may think a broom and knowing how to use it would be the essential need in the house.
However one important thing to note is that a person’s needs and wants changes as they get older. It changes every once in a while depending on our current situation. What we perceive as a want now, may gradually becomes a need. As we enter into certain phases of life our expectations of ourselves change. A person during his teenage phase would think of having a suit is a want. But as he enters adulthood having a suit is no longer a want as he may need a suit at work, therefore the suit becomes a need instead. It is then at this stage he may think an expensive suit would be a want. As he progresses further, the expensive suit may even go on to become a need, depending on his working environment and his change of perception. At this point, another person may think that the expensive suit is purely for vanity purpose and not an absolute need in life. One may say it’s a change of living standards, but may also argue that the person is being psychologically insecure as there is always a need to feel contentment.
End of the day, our definition of needs is something that is very unique and special to us as individuals. Perhaps two people may agree on some things in life as an essential need, but definitely no two people would agree totally and completely.
No comments:
Post a Comment