Is the Media to Blame for Your Materialism?

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This is for the blamers, the people who will not take responsibility for their irresponsible spending habits, but instead, choose to blame anyone and anything that’s reasonable. They’ll say “It’s the government,” or “It’s the media.” Yes, they’ll even blame Hollywood for their overspending.

Back in the day, Robin Leach guided us through Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. You could either view the show as motivation, as in, I’m going to work hard and save and maybe I’ll be a millionaire one day. Or you could view it with a bunch of sour grapes in your mouth and feel jealous and hate the fact that anyone could be that rich while you had to eat Ramen noodles.

Today, there’s no shortage of TV shows and magazines that show the big divide between the rich and the not-rich. Besides MTV’s Cribs — where you get to tour celebrity’s homes and see that there really are uses for 24K gold sinks! — there are all of the reality shows based on the rich and famous and how they live their day-to-day lives. Except that a celeb’s day-to-day hardly resembles the regular guy’s day.

When kids — and even adults — see how the other half lives, they can begin to want that, especially if they don’t have good impulse control. Instead of thinking about how someone came into money (while Bill Gates certainly worked for his, I’m not sure that Paris Hilton works for anything, but hey, she’s still loaded), they only see the end to the means. So they buy and buy and buy to look affluent, put themselves into debt and never end up saving and for what? It’s worse than trying to keep up with the Joneses; it’s like trying to keep up with Tommy Lee Jones.    

If you’re surrounded by luxury magazines and your TiVo is set to every reality show that features a down-and-out celeb who parades around a mansion because that lifestyle appeals to you, ask yourself if this is motivation for you to work hard and save or if you’re blindsided with all the jewelry and expensive cars. If you charge a pair of $180 jeans that you can ill-afford just because you saw them on some starlet’s butt, maybe it’s time to rethink your priorities and see if you’re taking full responsibility for your spending habits or if you’re too busy looking through rose-colored designer shades to see the real picture.