Everyone thinks of America as the land of opportunity. However, as an individual that has grown up in American society, I view America as the land of consumerism. Most people work to receive pay for their labor or the people born with money invest their money and make more money. Yes, the majority of workers in American society are workaholics and do not receive the pay they deserve for working or get the deserved benefits for working. Yet, even with all the hard work we put in to earn money, we spend most of our money on things that we do not need.
Indeed, workers in American culture have become workaholics. Our everyday lives revolve around money, in which many cannot afford on just working a 40 hour work week. Many people work overtime and live paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet. The reason why many American citizens are living paycheck to paycheck is because they either earn low wages or spend most of their money on materialistic things. For now, I am only going to focus on the idea of spending your money wisely rather than spending money on the newest smartphone, laptop, smart TV or video game system. These things are advertised to Americans by commercials on television, ads on the internet and ads in stores and billboards. Since we see all these advertisements whenever we walk into a store, our mentality is to buy the thing that was being advertised. Plus, there is what is also known as the bandwagon effect in many of these situations where all people want is to buy, buy, buy. The bandwagon effect is when one person sees another having something that’s new and they begin to want one to, so they decide to jump on the bandwagon and follow what the other person bought. We want things to have momentarily, out of habit because human beings only care about what they have versus what they need. This can be especially seen here in the states because we are not a generation raised to be grateful for what we have, we are raised to be a generation to want.
Society has shaped the future generation to view technology as an everyday part of life. However, what many do not think about is the money put toward buying that new iPad, smartphone or laptop. This is because parents do not necessarily teach their children the value of money, even though it is what makes the world keep turning. Parents give their children things without them working to get it themselves. If people worked hard they should learn the value of money. Although, even with the mentality of knowing the value of money and how fast the value could be lost if we spend it on things, Americans do not care. We have only learned to care about what we have and what we could have once something new is released. It’s unfortunate how our society especially sees money best spent on materialistic things rather than on other investments, such as donating it to charity or even creating an orphanage for children without a home.
I urge my generation to look past the wants in life, even though it is hard to not pay attention to your friends with the newest iPhone—you can make a difference. The money we make as part of the new labor force can be put to better use than on the things we want. With money we can make a difference and leave a legacy that can help others. We can help change America’s consumeristic culture into a culture of making a change and caring for others.
