Negatives Of Materialism In Society

The term materialism is known as a philosophy, and also an issue in our society. By definition, “materialism is the theory or attitude that physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute the greatest good and highest value in life” (Khan). This means that our society has a tendency to consider material items or money as more important than our spiritual values. Since youth, children have thought that having more things, or better things, is happiness. Everyone always wants to buy the latest device, or the newest trends, when they don’t really need it. According to DeAngelis, “Compared with Americans in 1957, today we own twice as many cars per person, eat out twice as often and enjoy endless other commodities that weren't around then…[but]

Amongst a family, there could be problems when compulsive buying causes trouble; families can argue over “true values” and financial business. In addition, studies have shown that “couples where both spouses are materialistic were worse off on nearly every measure” (Hadfield). Married or merely dating, couples who are more focused on money instead of connection and communication are less likely to develop deep or meaningful relationships. There are many other issues in today’s society that can stem from materialism, such as crime and and bankruptcy/debt. When we are driven by our need to buy material possessions, we can make poor life choices that are certainly regrettable. It’s hard to be completely simplistic, and we don’t need to be. We just need to adjust our life focus and attitude when it comes to the things we want to buy.
Today, most of our society become materialistic because they have an internal void, one that they think can be filled with material goods (Young). However, “when people value their possessions as a source of happiness or success, they experience more loneliness than people who use possessions as “material mirth”, or as a stepping stone to happiness” (Larsson). This means that when we go shopping and buy things, it only brings temporary happiness because we view objects as the source of it. We can solve this problem if we or focus from the stuff to the sensations and