In life, we seem to “need” and “want” many things in order to satisfy ourselves. Therefore, we consume products to meet our satisfaction. But how do we distinguish between the things we need and want?
It seems like people sometimes use the words as if they mean the same thing. Need is to have need of or require. It could be defined as a psychological or objective need. A psychological need would be the need for food, and an objective need would be the need to pay rent. If something is an absolute necessity then you definitely need it. For instance, humans need water and food in order to survive. Without food and water they would die. Want is to feel a need or a desire for something. The act of wanting involves satisfying our needs. Here is where need and want correlate with each other, and it creates a little confusion about what each word means. The word “need” could withstand by itself without the word “want”, but “want” entails a need for something.
People sometimes seem to have trouble distinguishing their wants and needs. For example: the other day at the mall, I was shopping for a shirt to wear to a concert. As I walked around the store I saw a marvelous rack of purses. I looked to my boyfriend and said, “I need a new purse”. He replied, “No you don’t because you’re carrying one right now”. I thought to myself, “Oh yeah, I don’t need one. I just want a new one”. There I was confusing my wants with my needs.
Not only mixing wants with needs, people have made their wants become needs. For instance: in morning classes, people say “I need coffee”, but do they really need coffee or they want coffee? Coffee contains caffeine, which is a central nervous system stimulant. It temporarily eliminates drowsiness and enhances attentiveness. People feel a need to consume coffee in the morning to wake up or stay awake. Some people have made coffee an essential part of their life, and they can’t function without it. In this sense, coffee was a want, but now it’s a need. It’s interesting to see how people have made their wants into their needs. Also, people have replaced general words with business corporation names. As Chris mentioned in class on Monday, people have been saying “I need a Starbucks” in replacement of “I need a coffee”. It’s fascinating to see and hear consumers of Starbucks replace the word “coffee” with “Starbucks”.
The consumption of coffee has become a popular expense in people’s daily lives. Not only making wants become needs, people are starting to replace words with business company names. For us human beings, it’s sometimes hard to differentiate our wants and needs. We "need" something to satisfy our wants, but also "want" something to satisfy our needs.
In life, we seem to “need” and “want” many things in order to satisfy ourselves. Therefore, we consume products to meet our satisfaction. But how do we distinguish between the things we need and want? 
2 comments:
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I really enjoyed reading your post however there are a few things I have different opinions on. When you say needs could be 'psychological' or objective', I think you can also include 'physiological'. Psychological needs are something that a person has to actively process in their mind. For example, 'I need to do well in this class so I can feel good about myself' or 'I need to finish my homework so I can have fun in good conscience'. If people don't fulfill these needs, they'll still survive. Physiological needs on the other hand would be food and water. I would label those needs as physiological they are directly linked to survival. The body will respond in a certain way if those needs are lacking (sluggishness, lack of energy). I find it interesting that food/drinks can be both wants and needs. Everybody needs food and drinks(water) but some people have a preference for a certain type of food that probably costs more and tastes better. I can't decide what category(categories) of need(s) this fits under. Perhaps this can be explained by your point that wants and needs are confused, or "people have made their wants become needs".
I think your interpretation of wants and needs is brilliant, "the word 'need' could withstand by itself without the word 'want', but 'want' entails a need for something." I would elaborate that perhaps people 'want' things because they have a 'need' to satisfy their 'wants'. To rephrase, people have a need to feel satisfied. Going back to your story of the purse, people(consumers) forget sometimes they already have those 'wants' satisfied and automatically want more. Sometimes I wonder why that is, or if our wants can ever be completely satisfied.
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