More and more people buy a wide range of electrical household goods like television, microwave ovens and rice cookers. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

It is increasingly common for people to fill their homes with many types of household appliances.

Although

this

development has negative implications for the environment, I believe that it is a positive one for individual consumers. On the one hand, there are certain drawbacks to people purchasing a large number of appliances. From the environmental perspective, the ever-increasing demand from the customer has led to a corresponding surge in manufacturing and retail sales. New products and models being constantly introduced to the market have resulted in some manufacturers over-exploiting the earth’s finite natural resources, and, even worse, many of them dispose of toxic waste by dumping it into the natural habitat. Beyond that, so as to make a greater profit, big brands often launch new products with only minor improvements compared to older ones. As customers purchase these vogue items in vain attempts to keep up with what is currently trending, redundant goods are quite often thrown out, ultimately ending up in large landfills, where they often take thousands of years to break down and,

while

doing so, release toxic chemicals into the surrounding soil.

On the other hand

,

this

trend has definitely improved business activities and people’s lives significantly. Regarding the former, appliance manufacturers have thrived in recent decades, thanks to the booming demand from consumers craving for better ways to manage their daily household chores.

This

, in turn, has provided more employment opportunities for society, and

also

more funding for the government, via increased tax revenues, which could

then

be used for infrastructure and social welfare projects. A

further

benefit is that devices

such

as dishwashers or dryers help improve the well-being of a modern family.

This

is because they can handle the most time-consuming household chores,

thus

giving family members more quality time to spend with each other, and lowering the risk of domestic conflicts over dividing responsibilities between spouses. In conclusion, it is clearly beneficial for people to own a wide variety of electrical devices in their homes, as these products demonstrably elevate their living standards,

although

these comforts often come at the cost of the environment. For the aforementioned reasons, I contend that

this

is a positive trend for consumers, but not for the environment.