Why do we need someone to tell us what to buy, where to go, what to believe in, what to wear, what to eat, what to think, and what ideology to follow?
Newsdesk (08/12/2025 8:59, Gaudium Press) Human beings need very little to live. However, over time, new ‘needs’ have been created. Comfort and pleasure have increased, but in return, selfishness, greed, envy and excessive attachment to material goods have developed.
Far be it from me to be against the comfort and convenience that technology provides for us, but what amazes me is how quickly electronics are replaced, almost always when they are still working very well, because there are always new models being launched, with more advanced designs and more colour options. The result they produce is much the same, but the new options ‘humiliate’ our existing household goods, which seem to no longer serve their purpose and fail to perform the function for which they were made.
Caught in a trap
What is most subject to this ‘update’ is the mobile phone – I have already been corrected that one should not say mobile phone, but rather smartphone, because the difference between the two expressions is that the smartphone has more features and capabilities than the mobile phone.
This small, extremely useful and addictive device was hardly used twenty years ago, and no one died or stopped communicating because of it. In fact, we communicated even more, because our friends were real and not virtual and inaccessible.
Well, all it takes is for a new model to be launched and the race is on to acquire – something that happens regularly, usually without major practical changes to the devices, which are, however, increasingly expensive.
Among younger people, this seems like a matter of life and death, and, on occasion, it really does become a matter of life and death, because most thefts and armed robberies – many with fatalities – happen because of cellphones.
What led us to all this, to believe in and suffer for needs we do not have, was advertising.
And from the moment we have a cellphone in our hands, we are subject to buying anything that someone decides to sell, from tangible objects to intangible things, such as training and online courses, many of which teach us how to influence others and make sales ourselves! … We are stuck in a trap.
Agents of the Revolution
In the past, those who swam freely in this sea of influence were professional advertising agents and ‘contacts’ – salesmen of advertisements and promos, who acted as intermediaries between the advertiser and the chosen media outlet for publicity, with a view to winning over potential customers.
Today, this role is in the hands of digital influencers, who likewise manage to earn a lot of money by encouraging people to buy things, make homemade cleaning products, try out new recipes, sing certain songs; embrace veganism; practice intermittent fasting; follow a ketogenic diet; follow a Mediterranean diet; take care of their ‘fur babies’; develop their spirituality; take courses in Stoic philosophy (even if they have never heard of it); recognizing toxic relationships and narcissistic people (given how often this word is repeated, there must be an epidemic of narcissism); abandoning their faith; changing their gender; learning how to make hibiscus tea with turmeric and detox juice from yams, aubergines, kale and apples to reduce inflammation in the body; and losing large sums of money on online games.
Are there good things on the internet? Yes, there are. Undoubtedly, there are many well-intentioned people sharing serious knowledge, promoting good discussions, evangelizing and warning about the risks of the internet. But, unfortunately, everything leads us to believe that there are more bad things than good things and, if things continue as they are, the trend is likely to get worse.
The issue is that an increasing number of people have taken on the role of disseminators, spreading real news and fake news, taking sides in situations they do not even know about and promoting violence for no reason. Without realizing it, they act like puppets and become agents of the Revolution. Worse still, of a Revolution they do not even believe exists!
People defend ideologies that are not theirs
We have reached a point where people try to convince us that there is no right or wrong, good or evil, man or woman, moral or immoral, honest or dishonest, devil or God. We live immersed in a big soup that mixes all kinds of vegetables and seasonings. We see people defending ideologies that are not theirs, religions to which they do not belong, and topics they know nothing about, simply because that is the ‘law of the internet.’
And those who still dare to think for themselves and even call others to reason are simply cancelled, slandered, and become victims of the verbal violence and psychological abuse that is rampant out there. No one seems to care about the reputation of others or even their own.
When we see a mother of children wearing ripped jeans, with tattooed skin, defending the right to abortion and intrusive ideologies, we ask ourselves: who is this woman? What was she like 15, 20 years ago, when she got married, started a family, had children? What led her to change in this way? What power instilled in her these “values” that she now defends and that are clearly not reflective of the life she has actually lived? These are things to think about…
Why so much, if we need so little?
This is not about criticizing A, B or C. Each group that raises a flag justifies the reasons why it does so, as do those who join movements they believe represent them.
What does not fit into this equation is the massive adherence of people who change their language, their way of dressing and their behaviour according to the tides, even though they are on dry land and hundreds of miles from the sea.
Do people still recognize themselves? Is everyone still able to explain their values, what they believe in, and their role in life?
Just as there has always been an infinitely greater number of consumers than advertisers, there is also an exponentially greater number of followers than influencers.
Why do we need someone to tell us what to buy, where to go, what to believe in, what to wear, what to eat, what to think, and what ideology to follow?
All these things show our fragility, how easily we are manipulated, and how deeply we sink into idolatry and stray from the One who died on the Cross to save us, knowing all our miseries and the sins that we might commit.
It remains to be seen how far He will let us go, because, as things stand, it is difficult to imagine that things could get much worse. May we at least have enough lucidity to beg: ‘Mercy! Come, Lord Jesus!’
By Afonso Pessoa
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Compiled by Roberta MacEwan
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