How The Modern World Benefits Consumers

The modern world often gets a bad reputation. Indeed, if you were to listen to the complaints of everyday people, you’d assume that we were living at the worst point in history.

There’s every chance that we’re living at the best point in history. You would much rather live in today’s world than at any time in the past. Remember: people tend to romanticize the past, focusing only on the good aspects and ignoring the bad. If you think the 1950s was good, you probably need to watch a documentary about what it was really like.

While today’s world isn’t perfect, there’s much to love. For one thing, it’s excellent for consumers. In this post, we’ll look at all the many reasons why the modern world benefits consumers. The next time you feel like complaining that your delivery is a little delayed, keep the following in mind. 

Convenience

The level of convenience offered to consumers is unparalleled. It’s challenging to see how things could even improve in the future. Think of this: whatever it is that you want to buy, you can take out your smartphone, click a few buttons, and it’ll be on its way to you in no time at all. This wondrous aspect of modern life is most evident in delivery apps. Can you imagine how ridiculous the idea of ordering, say, sushi to your house without having to speak to a person would be to someone living in the olden days?

Range of Options

In the past, you’d have to hope that local stores had the product that you wanted to have. Beyond that, you’d have to travel to a foreign destination to see the products they had. Today, you can find anything and everything, regardless of your location. You have the same access to products as someone in Japan, Spain, or anywhere else. It’s easy to take this for granted, but it’s a relatively new phenomenon that’s only really emerged in the past few decades.

Reviews

Imagine you’re back in 1980 and thinking of buying a product. If you didn’t know anyone who had purchased the product, you’d have to take the chance and hope it was as good as you expected. Many people bought underwhelmed products and just had to live with that disappointment. Today, there are reviews from professionals and fellow consumers for various products. If you see that a product has a five-star rating from just about everyone, you can be reasonably confident that you’ll be happy with your purchase. 

Resolving Issues

The concept of customer service has developed significantly in the past couple of decades. Modern businesses understand the damage that negative reviews can have on their success and, as such, will go to great lengths to ensure complete customer satisfaction. While this is not always the case, most companies are willing to go above and beyond to resolve a customer issue since they know that customers can always use the power of social media as a megaphone to badmouth the company if they don’t. In the olden days, it wouldn’t even be sure that you could speak to a customer service representative, let alone have them do anything about it. 

Data Safety

The rise of the internet and the transition to digital life did pose a couple of problems for consumers. For one thing, it utilized a lot of personal data, which could be highly damaging to the individual if it fell into the wrong hands. Today, many more protections help keep the individual’s data safe. We see this, particularly in the healthcare sector, where providers send HIPAA compliant reminders containing limited information. In doing so, they help to keep the patient’s sensitive information safe and secure. Elsewhere, online, website and e-commerce store owners must use encrypted services to keep customers’ data safe from cybercriminals. 

Offers and Deals

The range of options available to consumers means that competition among businesses is more fierce. And that’s ultimately good for consumers, who can take advantage of the many offers those businesses make available to entice customers. Whatever you’re thinking of buying, a wide range of offers and deals will likely be available. Even if you don’t take advantage of a particular deal, consumers can easily find the lowest price with a few simple clicks. And that’s just something that would not have been available in the pre-digital era. 

Reseller Market 

It has, of course, always been possible to resell items you no longer want. But you’d probably be working with a small target audience in the olden days. Today, your reach is much broader and more useful when you have a valuable item for which you want to receive the most cash. Rather than having a few people in your local area make bids, you can make your product available worldwide. 

Community Support 

Finally, let’s imagine you were living in 1985, and a product of yours stopped working. Unless it was an expensive product that was worth contacting the producer, you’d probably just give up on it and buy a replacement. Today, you can search online for guidance on how to fix the item. Most people don’t have the natural ability to repair damaged goods, but some people do — and they often make that information available online. If one of your beloved items experiences a problem, you might be able to bring it back to life just by making a few searches. 

Conclusion

As we said earlier, the modern world isn’t perfect — but from a consumer perspective and many other perspectives, you’d much rather live today than in the past. And who knows just how much better things will be in the future?