Materialism

Materialism is a problem to our society because people are becoming obsessed with it. Obsession over anything is never a good. Our society is becoming obsessed to the point that it is affecting our lives negatively. People that were once living comfortably are now struggling to get by each day at the cost of looking like a rich person on the outside. A materialistic person is someone who values things such as image, status, beauty, or popularity, more than they value intrinsic factors (being a good person, being honest, or having honor). Society is letting these extrinsic factors run their lives to the point where we are going broke or in debt just to portray we have a higher lifestyle than the normal class. People use materialism as a way to show off or portray we live a lifestyle that we really don’t live. Regardless of the cost, people will go broke trying to look better than someone else as long as they believe they’re making someone else envious of them. Part of the reason people are obsessed with materialism is because we all lie. Too many people in our society have their whole life based on a lie. Nothing good ever comes out of living a lie. Materialism can easily be used as a form of lying. According to In Stephanie Ericsson in “The Way We Lie”, a lie is “Anything that gives or is meant to give a false impression.” (Ericsson 349). There are multiple ways to tell a lie. People use materialism as one of the many ways to tell a lie. Ericsson would surely classify the obsession with materialism as a façade. Ericsson mentions how she wears a suit to go see a client knowing she normally wears sweatpants at home or pajamas. She also mentions the dangers of facades because they are used to seduce others into an illusion. The way people become obsessed with lying is similar to the way people become obsessed with using materialism to deceive others into thinking they live a more lavish lifestyle than them.
In the past generations people have always been