Reflection Of Affluenza

In todays society, the culture that the young children of our generation have been exposed to negates the positive values we try to instill in them at home and in our schools. In Affluenza by John De Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor, an analogy of a horrible disease provides a outstanding basis in which we can observe and learn about what ways our society is becoming desensitized towards positivity, intelligence, modesty, creativity and beauty. The next generation is always the most important when the one before ages. Early in child’s life, family stability and the right information from the world around them are so important. In Affluenza, examples and ideas are provided proving that the marketplace negatively affects the development

of children's ideals and the family itself.
Children are so important in today’s society. We need to teach them the right values and show them the right messages in order for them to be ready in the future. Not only can they be ready, but teaching them allows the future to be set on a positive path. Since their brains are young they are easily molded and large companies are targeting them in order to make more money. Joan Chiaramonte does research for the Roper Starch polling firm and explains that “Corporations are recognizing that the consumer lifestyle starts younger and younger. If you wait to reach children with your product until they’re eighteen years of age, you probably wont capture them.” (55) This proves that younger members of our society need to be more protected. Although teens and young adults are still affected, the influence on them from the market is much less affective than children. Parents should pay attention to what their child is reading, or what they are watching on tv. Computer access should be monitored at a young age as well, because all forms of social connections are able to advertise negative concepts. The influence of the market is so great on children, because this day and age there is more technology that there has ever been, therefore allowing others to reach children in a miriade of ways. Before all the devices we have today exist, children learned everything from their parents and teachers, no strange outside entity trying to put certain things into the children's heads.
Although most people do not like to believe that our world is driven by money, unfortunately that is the case with most business in corporate America. Some of these large companies seem not to even care about peoples well being, providing products not as a way to help people but to trick them into giving them their money. More and more money is their goal, even billionaires still strive for insane amounts of money that they already have, because as explained in Affluenza our marketplace has some serious problems. One of those problems being that the Market has no qualms about advertising and targeting young brains in order to make money. Thankfully we have many people who realize what is happening and are putting in effort to try and prevent children from being affected by this. One of these people is psychologist David Walsh, who provides a concise explanation: “Market-created values of selfishness, instant gratification, perpetual discontentment, and constant consumption have become diametrically opposed to the values most Americans want to teach their children.” (Walsh 56) These are the messages being presented by the market, and they are not positive. Protecting all people from this messaging is so important. Not only does the market teach lessons that will affect them negatively in their life outside their home, but the businesses try and turn them against their own families as well. If the company is able to give a child an idea that goes against the parent, the child will probably start to ignore the parents influence. This is a scary technique, because of corse each parent knows what is best for his or her child and to have a company try and disavow that is not morally right. (56) From children we move on to the family, and I provide evidence that each part of the family dynamic can be affected. Either individually or separately, the marketplace targets the family dynamic.
As a society today, we are extremely focused on consumption. People need to buy the new and more expensive thing, not because it is necessarily better but because its newer. We are obsessed with new things. The newest version of the iphone, computers, foods, health products, pretty much anything is bought because this generation is addicted to consuming. Rich people continue to buy everything although their closet is already bursting with every item that the average blue collar worker can not afford. But the rich spending their money on more things is not surprising, the real negative affects of this obsession is when a family buys much more then they can even afford. Debt becomes a serious problem, and when people are not able to pay off those debts, keep buying more, loose their job, etc., it can seriously damage all people involved. For example, Affluenza explains that it starts “with trying to acquire as many things as possible. It’s a major stressor right now in couples. There is a real addictive cycle that families get into where they go out and spend money in order to feel good about themselves. I have a number of couples Ive worked with recently who are having lots of problems, but who come in on Monday and say, ‘We had a great weekend. And it’s because we went out and spent a lot of money. We went to the mall and spent five hundred dollars on different things and we had a great time.’” (49) This is a great example of how extreme this consumer culture has really gotten, and how much we need to really change. Although these past examples have been of others, I myself am guilty as well.
After reading this book I like to think of myself as very conscious about what I spend and buy, and how much I need to save for something that is actually necessary.

The necessities I worry about on a daily basis include schooling, food, and car payments. Those are all things I need to spend money on in my life. But what do I buy that I do not need? A lot it turns out. I have many friends that are a lot worse off than me, and have the ability to buy whatever they want because their parents let them roam free with their money. Fortunately, my parents never had very much so I never had access to the money that they earned. This taught me how to earn on my own, and the responsibility of paying for what I want or need. In general I believe I have been good about not over buying and consuming, but I do have my own slip ups. Sometimes if I have a little extra money I go out and buy new clothes or makeup even though I have a closet full of clothes and a desk full of makeup. I, like many others, are attracted to buying and having more. Although that is a negative but pretty obvious side affect of consumer culture, I believe I struggle but do well with a different issue. The biggest consumer tactic that makes the most affect on people my age is the iPhone. Over the past few years, the iPhone has been bought by almost every person I know. They keep continually making them, there are 4 different kinds and within those kinds there are two to three other options of updates something bigger or made from something different. All my friends fall for this one, buying the new one when it comes out if they can afford it, breaking their old one so they can get a new one, or just wishing they could have the newest version because they think it is the coolest. I also have trouble with this. I have had the same phone for a couple of years now and it is a few versions behind of what the newest one is, and sometimes I wish I could have the newer one. Thankfully I have the willpower to

resist because I do not have the funds to pay for a $500 dollar phone and $50 a month.
In conclusion, I am very concerned with what my research into this topic has showed me. I never even knew that the concept of Affluenza existed, nor that it was this bad. Now that I fully understand what it means I am starting to notice more and more examples of it. I think that we as a nation created this problem, and we need to fix it. A way we can help is to start supporting more companies that really do care about people or real things, not just companies who are there to make money. I believe this could make a huge differenc