Abstract
Traditional consumer education (CE), aimed at providing information and guidance to young people, has become insufficient to take on the challenges posed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SDG 12. Knowledge of youth’s habits as consumers today and citizens of the future becomes essential for defining the most suitable methodological contents and strategies for effective and sustainable CE. This premise was the inception for our research project on the consumption of young people, focusing on the acquisition, purchase, and use of new technologies. Data were obtained from a sample of 994 young people who participated in activities at the Consumption School of Catalonia and completed a questionnaire. The main results revealed that young people did not include sustainability criteria in their use or purchase of technological devices, especially mobile phones: the replacement rate for mobiles was very high (1, 2, or 3 years) and the most important purchase criteria were price, technical features, and brand. These results highlight the need to propose a new kind of CE that challenges the young to think about and adopt consumption methods adopting a contextual, constructive, and complex perspective.
Highlights
Consumption is present in almost all of our actions today, such as washing our face, making a phone call, or turning on a light
Traditional consumer education (CE), aimed at providing information and guidance to young people, has become insufficient to take on the challenges posed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SDG 12
Knowledge of youth’s habits as consumers today and citizens of the future becomes essential for defining the most suitable methodological contents and strategies for effective and sustainable CE. This premise was the inception for our research project on the consumption of young people, focusing on the acquisition, purchase, and use of new technologies
Summary
Consumption is present in almost all of our actions today, such as washing our face, making a phone call, or turning on a light. Young people become prosumers and hyperconsumers in the virtual world and as consumers of new technologies, creating a lifestyle (social, cultural, and financial) that reveals a transition from the big events typical of modernity toward new paradigms [19] These new models are structured around changes in the conception of time and space and the meaning of collective action and authority [20], among others. Research on consumer habits: Descriptive research studies aim to deepen knowledge of the consumption habits of the youth in Catalonia, propose or improve upon educational workshops, and advance toward new focuses for teachers to work with CE The confluence of these three fields (teaching, research, and education) means that CE is shaped as a space in which research enriches daily education actions through constant innovation. This approach will constantly evolve, with the aim to stimulate the presence of consumer education in curriculums at different education stages and areas
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