Grex Consumer Conference

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Grex Consumer Item 93: Definition of consume/consumer
Entered by keesan on Tue Mar 24 21:27:30 UTC 1998:

What is your definition of consumer, to consume, consumption?  Can you consume
a service, as in 'mental health consumers', a phrase which sounds odd to me?

4 responses total.

#1 of 4 by keesan on Tue Mar 24 21:33:05 1998:

My 1961 Webster's, which defines the state of the language when I was
acquiring it, says: consume - 1) to do away with completely, destroy;  2) to
spend wastefully, squander, use up, expend;  3) to eat or drink up, esp. in
great quantity; 4) to engage fully (consumed by anxiety?).
consumer - one that consumes;  specif., one that utilizes economic goods.

SO it is possible to consume your health, but in 1961 you would not go to a
doctor for the purpose.  (You could take up smoking.)

I think the meaning has changed from a negative to a neutral one since 1961.
YOu can't be a wise glutton, or a wise squanderer.
Is there some way to be a wise consumer without destroying, wasting,
squandering, or using up our resource base?

#2 of 4 by rcurl on Wed Mar 25 06:39:26 1998:

The meaning has also been extended to such non "goods" as health
services and education. It is generally thought by those engaged in
the professions (not in the business) that this is a particularly
invidious use. There was an article in today's paper by a columnist
that did not like being converted into a "consumer" of health services
(from being a patient).

#3 of 4 by keesan on Wed Mar 25 21:45:42 1998:

So it has acquired the meaning of simply 'user'?  I don't understand how
anyone could 'use up' a service.  
Consumer Reports was founded in 1936, probably under that name.  They mostly
deal with economic goods, but now also cover medical services.

#4 of 4 by kentn on Thu Mar 26 03:14:14 1998:

I like the "to use up" definition of "to consume".  In terms of health
care, one might consider that, for example, a doctor can only see X
patients in her career, so every visit is in a sense using up a resource
of the community (1/X, or more if you add up all the visits you make
during that doctor's career).  This relates to the concept of "time is
money" or valuable, other words.  Time being a finite resource for us
humans, one way to consume it is wisely (however you define *that*).

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