Within recent decades, the usage of commercial products and technologies has risen. Millions of people get on social media everyday to see influencers showing off their latest iPhone, designer clothing and other items bought for the sole purpose of showing off. Due to the normalization of luxury brands through the media, many have come to the conclusion that their life would be similar to influencers if they had the same products as them. It’s important to remember that viewers only see what they decide to post, and the majority of influencers are only as happy as they allow their audience to see.

No product that isn’t an essential need or amount of money will be able to contribute to a person’s long term happiness.
Once people develop the notion that money leads to happiness, they end up in a never-ending cycle attempting to feel satisfaction. They will find themselves spending their hard earned money on new products just to get bored after a few weeks and buy a new product. The amount of joy that comes from buying a new product is only temporary. Over time, these products will turn into useless clutter taking up space.

Oftentimes, when people feel the need to receive validation from those around them, they attempt to show off what their money can buy. In order for one to show off what they can do with their money, they must make the money first. Individuals will spend years and years of their life working in a job that they don’t even enjoy, just to own valuable items. Sure, peers may feel a bit of jealousy. However, a person living an overworked life in a job that isn’t enjoyable isn’t worth a house that they won’t even be able to spend time in. Money will never replace time. It is crucial that humans don’t allow their fixation on money to take away from their limited time on this earth.

Just as money can’t buy happiness, it is also incapable of buying relationships. No relationship based on money is real. Relationships, whether romantic or platonic, are formed overtime through emotional bonds, interaction, shared experience, and many other factors that come from the inside. Majority of celebrities find themselves with trust issues, unable to let potential friends into their lives, because they fear that anyone wanting to be in their life is only using them for money. People can’t be bought, and those with both money and valuable relationships should spend their extra cash creating experiences that those they care about will remember. Money will be exchanged, switching locations and ownership until the end of time, but memories are unique and only those that were there will be able to look back and enjoy reminiscing the moment they spent with those that they love. Upon death, people find themselves thinking about the important moments in life, not how much is in their bank account.