While there is a popular opinion that with social media and various online applications, everything is easily available today, and it is pushing the users to become materialistic, actor Ankit Bathla, who has wrapped up his show Savdhaan India – Apni Khaki, feels otherwise. He stressed that being materialistic is an individual choice and is not influenced only by social media.
“Social media has definitely taken hold in people’s lives nowadays. I absolutely agree with this, but like I always say, it’s a bane and a boon. It depends on how you take it and what you learn from it. Materialism is all about a person and what they want. So honestly, a person can be influenced by a series on Netflix, a television show, or anything, if they really want to be material and want to see the other side of life,” he says.
“People are materialistic, and one should be because we are born in this world to enjoy life as well. Of course, it depends on how you have earned those materialistic things—is it by really working hard towards them and doing it in some way, or have you stolen them from somebody. That’s the only difference that I can think of,” he adds.
Ankit also mentions that, though he indulges in online purchases that are not necessarily affected by social media, he is not a hoarder. He avers, “I definitely buy a lot of stuff online because of the paucity of time. So I don’t really have to control it, but in my mind, I always have a budget. So I have the simple rule of discarding two and buying one. So only if I’m able to discard two, I buy one, especially with clothes. That’s how I maintain my urge and control as much as I can.”
Ask him if he has made any lifestyle changes because of social media, he says, “I have definitely made some lifestyle changes. For example, I have learned a lot of travel-related tips, a lot of cooking-related stuff, and of course, a lot of pages that share motivational stuff, and definitely with reels floating around, I have definitely tried to see some of them and have fun.”