We are, by nature, beings who consume, and perhaps we don’t need to think about it as neither good nor bad, simply a fact of existence. Need, after all, is not just an empty space waiting to be filled. It’s a driving force, a beginning, a reason for movement. A doctor will say we need oxygen, water, nutrients, from the first instant of life, even before we are aware of living. A philosopher might say we consume ideas, knowledge, time, memories. And somewhere there in between, we find objects, the things we make and collect and use, the things that shape our days in ways we rarely notice. We wake up, and an object awaits. We move through the day, touching, seeing, wearing, using. Even in sleep, we do not part from objects completely: a ring that tracks our breath, a mattrase that supports our body, a phone that waits to wake us, a watch counting our heartbeats in the dark.  And we aren’t “happy” with only one watch, we may collect multiple ones, because a watch is not just a functional object, it is a companion to our mood, a reflection of the self we wish to show or feel. And when we decide to replace it, we do it, not when it breaks, but when it no longer speaks to us. Objects lose their place not because they fail to function, but because they fail to mean.