Teenage Materialism

A detailed Summary of Teenage Materialism

Why Media makes Teenagers so Materialistic

Materialism can be defined as primarily focusing on tangible items over spiritual or intellectual values. Although many people in America live this way, I feel as if a concentration on things rather than people is a meaningless way to exist. Since many people acknowledge and agree with my point of view, why does my generation continue to grow more materialistic?

Although I wasn't living during my parents' teenage years, I can bet everything was different. Maybe it's because my parents weren't watching MTV everyday, or maybe its because, when my parents were younger, it was cool to have good grades and a good head on your shoulders than to have a designer outfit and a hooked-up car. Those are just two of things my peers hold in high regard. My guess however is that my parent's media was based on an era of Leave it to Beaver and Mayberry where people and ethical values had a higher place in society. My generation, 16 to 21 years old, however is totally different than our parents were. That is a shame because now, if you're in my generation you aren't accepted unless you fit the mold that the media has carefully created for us.

MTV has definitely played a role in the developing tee

Materialism has skyrocketed in the past years due to over commercialization, and we are feeding it more with each passing day. Sadly enough teens are the most common target with advertisers. They bend the rules and with the right angle, can get us hooked on anything. That's sad that my generation has become so shallow and materialistic that no price is too high for them to be cool. It's like saving all your money up for a down payment of the hottest car of the year, and then seeing the brand new model for the next year. Suddenly the car of your dreams has become last year's fad, and some people will do anything and everything to make sure they get caught up. If my generation doesn't get their priorities in order, everything that is right and all good will quickly become last years trends.

nage materialism. Every program or video shows trendy people wearing only the best new clothes, and in every preceding video and program is another new trend of clothes. For the teens who want so hard to fit in, it's really hard for them to keep up, and they feel they must for them to fit in. This increases our greediness to have everything they have-just so we can fit our generations idea of cool. The problem is MTV can only market one form of cool for so long before it becomes old. Cool to them is how much money they can get from the next company to advertise their new items. Therefore on TV, cool is constantly changing, resulting in more money being spent by us to get all the newest and the best.

Materialism is at its best in a magazine. Look through the pages of a popular magazine like "Cosmo" and what do you see? Clothes, perfume, and other material items. Tear out the pages of a magazine that are advertising something, anything, and you will end up with nothing left. Even the articles are usually geared towards some form of materialistic leis

Some common words found in the essay are:
Bling Bling, Beaver Mayberry, Eat Snickers, Materialistic Materialism, Month That's, Advertising Industries, Cosmo Clothes, Money Millionaires, , television sitcoms, regular trips, real world, trips mall, middle class, regular trips mall,

Approximate Word count = 1251
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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