American Dream: The Importance Of Consumerism In Our Modern Society

In our modern society we associate the American Dream with consumerism; the two terms have almost become synonymous. We want what we want, when we want, we want it to be fairly easy to obtain, and it’s our right to be free to consume as much as we can. Because of the internet and online shopping going to a store isn’t even a necessity. With a few clicks of a button on a phone, tablet, or laptop, the shopper must never leave the comfort of their house to buy almost anything they wish at any time of the day. I personally have experienced the ease and convenience of online shopping this week. The other night I was laying in my bed at three in the morning on Amazon purchasing them at the time, last available copy of Crazy Cat Lady the board game. Then, not even five minutes after placing my order, I thought to myself ‘What am I doing?!’ and then promptly canceled my order. This subconscious mentality of consuming has almost unknowingly become a way of life that has altered how we—myself included—live, interact with others, and has even crept into our churches and relationships with God. If you were to look in my closet you would find very little free space and back home, I have even more clothes I knew wouldn’t fit in the smaller closets and drawers of my dorm room. For most people, such as myself at …show more content…
We are meant to connect with other human beings and build relationships with them that help fill us emotionally. In our modern day of consumerism; however, we see more often that we are attempting to use objects to replace these real relationships. Often we replace our relationships with items simply because it’s easier. People often are confusing and can let you down. While physical goods may also let you down, that isn’t much of an issue. Being let down by a product is nothing to worry about because you have the ability to go out and buy something else that will take the place of the item that was in some way