Materialism: A Successful Modern Life

It is often difficult to contemplate what is truly essential in living a fulfilling life nowadays. With so many advertisements and new department stores out there, the true essence of life is terribly lost for many Americans. It 's lost in the materialism of modern life. Materialism is defined as a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values. This is the contrast to the 19th century philosophy named transcendentalism which emphasizes the spiritual over the material when living a fulfilling life. Key writers of the period included the famous Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau was virtually a failure up until writing “Walden”. Although he attended Harvard in 1833, Thoreau failed as a school …show more content…
This is quite contrary to the modern depiction of a successful life which does include owning lots of new things. Just look at the lines outside the Apple Store when the new iPhone comes out every November, it is cluttered with people who want the next big thing to make them happy. Should a piece of technology, or material of any sort, make someone happy and distract them from becoming in touch with themselves? Also illustrated in the ideal successful modern life is the idea of being connected to others via social media. Social media virtually gives people the option to communicate online rather than talking face-to-face. There is social development in verbal communication with people, and it helps one focus on themselves rather than communicating through a screen with words. To achieve the goals of gaining material, one must work for it. Often times people lose focus of their lives in their work in hopes of attaining as much money as possible. Man merely becomes a machine that works toward a goal that covers the true key to life. Having more time to contemplate one 's life should be an obligation according to Thoreau. Henry David Thoreau would be dismayed to see the modern society and its goals because of how little value each of them truly hold. “Walden” was a story that included no real technology to distract Thoreau from his …show more content…
Its presence has dramatically changed the way people use technology and even interact with one another--and not for the better. Social media is great for communicating with family at long distances or any other convenience, but it becomes bad when it takes the place of face-to-face conversation. Walking through any high school reveals how much teens especially are dependent on their smartphones for communication, as if it is a requirement for making an image of themselves. Apps like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook seem to be the only things on teens minds today. It is important to remember that transcendentalists like Thoreau believed in individualism and self reliance. However, with social media people are always worried about what others are doing or what demeaning tweet someone just sent out. . These ideas directly challenge Thoreau 's ideas about being true to oneself and gaining experience through interaction. This may seem hypocritical being that Thoreau was by living by himself in the woods(he did have visitors now and again) not primarily practicing interaction/communication, but some of his thoughts can manifest through to today 's world about growing oneself through personal interactions. Early in “Walden”, Thoreau states argues that “Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the