> Human beings tend to be collectors by our very nature. There is even evidence that Neanderthals and other prehistoric people engaged in personal collections of stones, shells, and fossils. Today, people collect everything from art to coins to toys to cars (and more).
Collecting can bring many benefits—including a sense of community, the thrill of finding new items, improved mental health, skills in organization and decision-making, helping us remember past events, and even the possibility of profit in the future. However, in the modern world, collecting can also bring many risks, both personal (such as over-spending, addiction, or hoarding) and environmental (shipping and packaging waste, many “common” items being thrown away in the hunt for rarer ones, etc).
Read and consider the information and opinions in the links below and come to your own conclusion. Do the benefits of modern collecting culture outweigh the harms?