Want vs Need

4th of March 2022

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What is a need?

Need is a necessity for life or for survival. That means food, air, clothing and shelter and the necessities for life- these are known as needs. While anything which is above the need is known as want. Want is a desire for something, so when we meet our basic needs, then we want the advanced version of the need. This is called a want.

Basically, want is a luxurious part of the need. I’d like to explain the concept of need and want with an example. We need food for survival, that is basic. But once our need is fulfilled then we want something more. Here the want may be having a pizza or burger or having a lunch or a dinner. In some cases, luxurious or extravagant hotel or restaurant.

One can satisfy the need in most of the cases, but it is very difficult or impossible to satisfy the amount of want of a human being. 

Considering another example, everyone on this planet needs the clothes, but one may not need the designer or branded clothes. The need for clothes is a necessity of life but wanting of luxurious or branded clothes force is called a want. We all know that needs are water for drinking, food to eat, clothing to keep you warm and shelter to live in. On the other hand want is everything else. That is, you need beverages for drinking, fast food to eat, designer and branded clothes to wear and a big house to live in.

All these mentioned above are called our wants. We can conclude by saying that wants are there to make life a little more enjoyable. In simple terms, we can redefine the need and wants as follows- need is something you have to have because these are the essential things in your life, without this it is very difficult for survival. And want is something you would like to have, that means here the desire comes into picture.

A want is stated with a materialistic position.You need food because you are hungry. but you want pizza because you want to satisfy your bond. You need a simple phone for communication, but you want an iPhone to show and talk to your friends. You need a small house to live in but you want a bungalow so that you can flaunt it. You need a transportation medium to commute but you want a car.

As I said earlier, it is always easy to satisfy your need, but it is highly impossible to satisfy your wants. So when you are walking by foot, you want a bicycle, and when you get a bicycle then you may want a bike, and when you get a bike you want that car, and when you get a car you want to fly and want a plane. So this is the cycle of life, hence we can conclude by saying that a need can be satisfied but a want can never be satisfied.

We should learn to differentiate our wants and needs today so we can go for the priority while leaving the wants for later!