With exams looming, he decided he needed to focus more on his studies.

Ryan had invested two years and a lot of effort in a design project that wasn't delivering the needed outcomes, but the thought of abandoning it after all he had put in was hard to bear.

Many psychologists, child development experts and educators point to research suggesting that this cradle-to-grave consumerism is causing rising rates of low self-esteem, depression and other forms of mental illness.