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Consumerism is not destroying the social fabric of my culture, but a serious lack of moderation in spending/consuming is. In the United States we are often consuming products in large quantities made elsewhere in the world. Many of these products are not necessary for our survival or even moderate comfort. The high rate of consumption of inexpensive disposable products has both drained the family of their resources and has resulted in the decline of products manufactured domestically (due to the higher cost of production and the cost to the consumer).

Obviously the fact that many families have spent more money than they actually have has resulted in a change in the family environment. The more we spend, the more we must work and the less time we have for our family, friends and the community. This also results in less time for volunteer work. Now with many of us losing jobs it is possible that we will have more time to volunteer. But, our first choice would be to gain a full time job so we are able to buy more. I believe most of us equate happiness to some degree with how much we have. One week we may go out and buy a few things, feeling satisfied with what we have. The very next week after payday we feel strongly that we must go shopping. Obviously, our hyper consumerism has a lot to do with all aspects of our environment.

The amount we consume and the rate at which we consume is directly related to how we are molded by our environment. We have become advertisements, television sitcoms and magazine ads. When something happens in our life, we may even recall a certain episode to prompt us to a specific reaction. This is a fact that almost none of us can escape. Again, this is not good or bad, it just is.

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7y ago

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