Saturday, November 28, 2009

Affluenza

Affluenza is something that is happening all over the world. It is where we, humans, become too distracted by technology and other things that keep us from salvaging our memories with the people that mean the most and the environment that we live in. Everyone is guilty of having the Affluenza disease at one point or another. I will even be the first to admit it. I sometimes do not think before buying something, or sometimes take the easy way just because it is instant gratification. After taking the quizzes, my results showed that I have a moderate case of Affluenza. I have resource exhaustion, social scars, swollen expectations, and a fractured family. All of these things made me think and believe it or not it is very true. What I dislike the most is the social scars that it has left me with. I do not know how to socialize as well as I would like to because being around cell phones, computers, text messaging, facebook, everything has scarred me to the point where socializing has become stressful and the last thing on my way of communication. I do not like what that is doing to our generations and it is even getting worse. I also do not like that my family is fractured. Spending money sometimes does make things more fun but there are certainly more ways to entertain ourselves as a family without going out and spending unnecessary amounts of money. I definitely feel that we need to change our consumer habits. Spending has gone so out of control that kids these days do not know anything other than just taking out a piece of plastic and swiping a credit card. If we do not put a haul to this now, how much worse will it get? We rely way to much on things that are bought and are judged on what we own, which is not how we should be living. We need to cherish time together with loved ones and the people who mean the most. We also need to take advantage of our beautiful world that we live in and start going outside again. Meeting our neighbors, building a tree fort, taking a hike in the woods are all things that we need to bring back into our society. I myself am willing to make changes. I know for a fact that one day when I have a family I want to bring them up outdoors. I also want them to know the value of money and not always get what they want. I want them to appreciate the things around them and make sure they are aware of how to keep our planet sustainable. If everyone was a little more educated on what is happening then a little help from everyone could make a huge difference.

http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/images/booksetc/affluenza1.jpg

No comments:

Post a Comment