Post 6

Socialization, whether we like it or not human beings are wired from birth to crave human interaction.  From young ages kids interact with each other and create connections that help them learn and grow in society. Over the years media outlets and advertising company have  exploited these children need for human interaction. As we se in the documentery Consuming Children Advertising companions have gone to so many extremes just to make money off of the fact that children need to communicate. Like when the ad companies would go so far as to accompany small children into bathrooms to observe what they are doing and create ad campaigns based off of their findings. Given that situation in any other circumstance and that person is going to be on the sex offenders list for the rest of their life. However, these companies are successful in their proceedings. My nephew, who is eight years old, was over at my house before we left to go to a hawks game.  My brother recently bought him a stitched Stanley Cup jersey and the kid was asking for him to buy a shirt for him at the game. Then I started to think, my nephew was wearing a $30 T-Shirt, a $150 jersey,  $50 pants,  $120 shoes and even $20 socks. In about 6 months he is going to outgrow almost all of those items and all that money would be down the drain. But then it dawned on me, I was subject to this media and consumerism consumption swell. I often find myself buying the next big pair of shoes that I wanted. In the past year alone I've purchased 2 pairs of Sperrys (Even though my family doesn't own a boat) 2 pairs of Jordans and a pair of reeboks. Media has latently taught us that to be a true american you have to spend your money on the next best gadget or the new big thing or else you won't fit in with the societal norms. It has taught us that we as a nation need to become materialist because that is what they've been feeding us, quite literally, since birth.