Prompt: Shopping is the favorite pastime for most of the young people. Why do you think is that? Do you think they should be encouraged to do some other useful activities?

It has been a commonplace to see many youngsters choose to shop as one of their favorite leisure activities. While shopping offers the ultimate stress-relief from modern life, I believe that young people should be diverted to other ways of spending their free time. Ċ To begin with, it is undeniably true that young people nowadays are more stressed out than the past. In a rapidly changing world, the fact that they not only have to hone their skills to keep up with latest technologies but also have to survive in a competitive job market makes their lives become increasingly stressful. This has led many of them seek to relieve such stress through shopping. Many studies show that it can be an effective way to help people overcome their blues in that buying products help them regain psychological control of their situations. Ċ Considering the negative side effects of shopping, I contend that more productive leisure activities should be encouraged to young generations. First of all, frequent shopping may lead to shopping addiction. This is because spontaneous shoppers affected by the high level of stress would end up with impulse buying, most of which are unnecessary. Although shopping may provide one with instant gratification, such pleasure does not last long enticing people to shop again creating a vicious cycle of undesirable shopping habits. Given that shopping as a hobby may exert adverse impacts on young people's mental and physical health, alternative pastime activities, such as swimming and other physical activities, can be healthy way to spend Ċ In conclusion, many young adolescents have chosen to shop as their favorite pastime to reduce stress; however, due to its risk of being shopaholics, other healthy activities should be suggested.