Is having the latest technology a want or a need?
How often do you get a new cel phone or mp3 player? Did you really need a new model? Do you consider the environmental impact of these purchases? If you are addicted, how can you break your addiction?
Wants or Needs? >
Wants are needs
In today's society having a lot of stuff is just the norm even if we don't need it. What we need to survive is food,shelter,water and space we don't need all the extras that we have now (ex. Latest iPod latest clothes etc) and we don't need those things to survive. Also many people don't even know or want to the environmental impact of all the stuff they want or have
yes, there is definitely a psychological tendency to not want to know what the negative impacts are of our desires/daily decisions. The resolution of this conflict comes from peoples' social groups. As you say, the social norm is getting more and newer stuff. When the social norms shift, so will peoples' behaviors.
If that is true, how do we encourage those shifts in social norms?