Negative Effects Of Online Shopping

1894 Words8 Pages
In his book, “Amusing Ourselves to Death”, Neil Postman analyzes the change of mediums from a Typographic Age to a Telegraphic Age; but because technology has advanced since the 1980s, it does not address every new medium and its effects. One recent medium that dominates the internet is online shopping. With seventy nine percent of Americans making online purchases (Weller), it is quickly becoming a new tool for everyday life. This medium attracts every aspect of buying, from office supplies to dog treats. The demand for online shopping stores is increasing rapidly year by year. Because a shopper has thousands of online stores to choose from, larger shipping stores compile products from smaller sites to make it more accessible for the buyers. Although online stores—like Amazon— have many benefits, they are altering the culture to be fast paced and impatient. The largest online site, Amazon, ships 1.6 million packages daily to destinations all around the world (Weller). It is estimated that one in four Americans have an Amazon Prime account (Weller). Amazon Prime is a membership that offers many benefits to an online shopper by providing free two day shipping as well as exclusive access to multiple genres of music and movies (Perez). This membership allows the public to listen to many different types of music and watch a large range of movies for only $99 a year. Being a large shipping store, Amazon has to stay ahead of the competition by creating programs that increase the