Materialism

The Truths of Materialism
Materialism can be good, but do the negatives outweigh the positives? So many people in our society seem to have lost the ability to differ between wants and needs. They have lost a sense of priority as well. Materialism helps the economy flourish, but it also blinds us of what true happiness is.
Materialism is not always bad, it’s only when you abuse it that it becomes so. An interest becomes materialism when it is intense enough to override priorities that should be paramount (Dallin H. Oaks). Materialism becomes bad when it becomes the main focus in one’s life (wisegeek.com). Some people are blind when it starts taking over them. They do not realize it even though there are huge clues hinting at it. Materialism may be an obsession, a preoccupation, or merely a strong interest (Dallin H. Oaks). When it becomes an obsession, it can start to mess with one’s mind. People get the idea that having more will make them happier (James Thwitchell). This can really turn one’s life upside down.
Being succumbed by materialism can seriously affect people negatively. The effects of materialism are similar to brainwashing (allaboutphilosophy.org). Although hard to believe, people actually change, sometimes to the extent where they are strangers to friends. One way a person changes is how they gain happiness. They believe that satisfaction with life is found to increase with income (crabs-rutgers.edu). They lose, or forget, the meaning of true happiness and where it comes from. Most of the unhappiness people experience can be attributed to our preoccupation with materialism (reasoned.org). For that small moment when they make that purchase they have joy, not happiness, but two days later they are not happy enough with it. What they have will never be enough. Happiness is a mental state (reasoned.org). Most Americans have spent their way to happiness (James Twitchell).   It is like the story of the man and the sports car: A man finally bought his...