Are young adults too materialistic?

estranged4life · #1 01-23-2007, 12:44 PM

Being wealthy ranks as a priority for youths, recent surveys indicate.

The Associated Press

Chicago - Melissa Greenwood sees it every day at her high school - the hyper-focus on designer labels, the must-have trendy cell phones, the classmates driving SUV's.

New polls show the obsession with material things is growing - and that being rich is more important to today's young people than in the past.

UCLA's annual survey of college freshman, released last Friday, found nearly three-quarters of those surveyed in 2006 thought it was essential or very important to be "very well-off financially." That compares with 62.5 percent who said the same in 1980 and 42 percent in 1966, the first year the survey was done.

Another recent poll from the Pew Research Center found about 80 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds in this country see getting rich as a top life goal for their generation.

Young America's obsession with material things recently caused talk show host Oprah Winfrey to vent her frustrations, when aked why she chose to build a school in South Africa instead of this country.

"If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers," Winfrey told Newsweek, referring to visits with students in inner-city school.

"In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school."

Saying no
Indeed, researchers say materialism is an obsession that cuts across socio-economic lines for American youth.

"Our kids have absorbed the cultural values of more, easy, fast and fun," says David Walsh, a psychologist who heads the National Institute on Media and the Family in Minneapolis. He's also the author of the new book, "NO: Why Kids - of All Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It."

As the title suggests, he believes parents have played an integral role in encouraging their children's materialism. His research found that, when adjusted for inflation, parents are spending 500 percent more on kids today than one generation earlier.

Disappointment looms
Some see the heightened expectations setting up inevitable dissappointment.

"There are a lot of young people hitting 25 who are making, say, $35,000 a year, who expected they'd be millionaires or at least making six figures," says psychologist Jean Twenge. They're also entering adulthood with more college loans and credit card debt. No wonder, Twenge says, we hear so many 20-somethings talking about the "quarter-life crisis."

ELIUD · #2 01-23-2007, 01:25 PM

I'm not surprised by this at all. And I feel sorry for kids today with all the pressure of being immersed into the world of haves and have-nots at such an early age.

mikeschmike · #3 01-23-2007, 01:30 PM

This is pretty sickening. I joke about needing to have name brand this and designer that, but it's not my purpose in life. These kids are really missing out on a lot of things if they're wrapped up in how much they're worth (in dollars).

SuzeQuze · #4 01-23-2007, 02:56 PM

Well, they have no idea what it really means to make a living. The media makes it seem like the middle class doesn't even exist with all the designer everythings out there. I can't afford anything in the ads in fashion magazines. Articles are about rich and famous people. The average person is not represented in the media much at all. When they are it's not very realistic. College kids staying in a huge apartment in the Back Bay for Boston Common comes to mind. No way!

DavidMn · #5 01-23-2007, 05:41 PM

Well, let me see here. I've never made alot of money, yet I've found a way to travel the world, see Fleetwood Mac, go to alot of baseball stadiums. WHat did I miss?

sparky · #6 01-23-2007, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMn

Well, let me see here. I've never made alot of money, yet I've found a way to travel the world, see Fleetwood Mac, go to alot of baseball stadiums. WHat did I miss?

The interest rate part of the credit card agreements?

CelticGypsy · #7 01-24-2007, 05:24 AM

It helps to have a mother that went to Wal-mart and K-mart because that is all my parents could afford back in the 60's and 70's. We had a mall near us in the mid 70's but I think I got to shop there twice in my life. I bought a Prom dress when I was a Junior and shoes to match and another pantsuit for a special school event when I was a Senior. Parents today are as bad as their kids. Some parents just need to stop feeling guilty and stop spoiling their kids with material gifts and spend more time with their kids. It is okay to say NO! to the kids

DavidMn · #8 01-24-2007, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sparky

The interest rate part of the credit card agreements?

OH that's right!

I just have been able to afford what I do by being very creative. Havent really used too many credit cards. Not that I'm not in debt in other ways, mind you.

estranged4life · #9 01-24-2007, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CelticGypsy

It helps to have a mother that went to Wal-mart and K-mart because that is all my parents could afford back in the 60's and 70's. We had a mall near us in the mid 70's but I think I got to shop there twice in my life. I bought a Prom dress when I was a Junior and shoes to match and another pantsuit for a special school event when I was a Senior. Parents today are as bad as their kids. Some parents just need to stop feeling guilty and stop spoiling their kids with material gifts and spend more time with their kids. It is okay to say NO! to the kids

Wal-Mart with a passion (We were a K-Mart family - In other words we were poor and used the K-Mart layaway plan often), She wouldn't have lifting her legs up to piss on 'em if they were on fire.

****, My Mom was harsh - As she loved to say (often) "No means No means No means no!" I still remember (As do my relatives on my Dad's side of the family) that if we went shopping with Mom don't EVEN THINK for a second of asking for something cause the answer was "NO!" and if you whine/cried she would pull our pants down right in the stores aisle and let them pummlin' begin - God forbid that some nosey person would interfere cause Mom would have pummled them next (And she did one time)

Us kids werent given 'goodies' for doing our chores and etc, that is what Christmas was for. Mom worked from the time she told DHS to go f__k themselves on Jan.5,1978 until injury forced her out of work in 1990 (Missing only 5 days TOTAL in that span of time).

I am glad I was raised poor, my Mom instilled into us kids that you work for everything, you dont whine like a pussy for it and $$$$/materalism is not everything in the world.