Materlism

In America today, materialism is extremely evident in our culture. While most individuals ignore this and claim materialism isn’t evident, this is completely untrue. Materialism is still an important value in American culture. In “Values Americans Live By” by L. Robert Kohls, he states that foreigners generally consider Americans much more materialistic than they are likely to consider themselves. Americans are more likely to believe that their material objects are more the fruits of their labor; a reward for their hard work. Materialism means that a person values and collects more material objects than most people would ever dream of owning. It also means that they give higher priority to obtaining, maintaining, and protecting their material objects than they do in developing and enjoying interpersonal relationships . This value of materialism is having a negative effect on our culture. Materialism is the leading cause of unhappiness, it aids bullying in children, and causes depression in some people in our nation
In the United States, you may find a family who can’t afford food, can barely make rent each month, and can’t afford health insurance for any members of their family. However, if you walk into their apartment which they can barely afford in the first place, you may find a big-screen TV, a brand new car, and brand-name toys for their children. This family, who is behind on all their payments still may have the latest iPhone. Why are we doing this to ourselves? We are now in a national shopping spree which will last our whole lives. Americans are now working overtime in a world where people work to earn money just to make up late payments, or add to the bills that are already piled up on their tables. These days, parents can’t bear to see their child unhappy, so they buy them whatever their child wants. This is the reason why many families can’t pay their bills. It’s an endless cycle, an adult buys an expensive item and can’t afford it to pay for it,...