2. WHAT IS CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LIFE?

work a lot. play a little. shop a lot. enjoy a little. in short, contemporary american life is little life. instead it's a whole lot of excess.

for better and worse, many young americans already know this. for worse, they're too insulated, isolated, and inspired by "things"; as they pursue cultural ideals of consumerism rather than citizenship they feel lonely, anxious, and perpetually unsatisfied. for better, however, they can sense that something is wrong -- and that something else, some other way of life, may be favorable. compared to baby boomers in 1973, those born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s are twice as likely to agree with the statement "there is no single right way to live" (twenge 19). likewise, today's teens to thirty-somethings, dubbed as "generation me," apparently believe that the most important quality a child can learn is "to think for himself or herself" (twenge 19).

but do we do this? not really. while we greatly value individuality, much research suggests that our particular idea of individuality is more akin to cultural conformity. to be oneself, according to contemporary ethos, is a matter of self-entitlement rather than self-creation; we take it for granted that our lives are special and therefore we hardly, if at all, think about what exactly makes them special (twenge 4). instead we go shopping, which is now considered a primary means of self-exploration and self-expression (brooks 182). ironically enough, we are what we buy. we are not ourselves at all.

in 1967, 86% of incoming college students said that "developing a meaningful philosophy of life" was an essential life goal; only 42% of freshmen in 2004 agreed (twenge 48). relatedly, 45% of college freshmen in 1967 said it was important to be well-off financially; in 2004, 74% embraced this life goal (twenge 99). the shift from meaning to money is obvious. materials are today's measure of success. when materialistic values become relatively central to a person’s system of values, however, personal well-being actually declines. this decline results from a decreased likelihood of having experiences that satisfy important psychological needs such as intimacy with others and achievement that is an end in itself (kasser 13). materialism in college students is positively associated with narcissism, physical symptoms, and drug use; also, it is negatively associated with self-esteem and quality of relationships (kasser 19).

sadly, we want so much that we don't get what we need -- and, even sadder, we're working harder than ever. right now work dominates most americans' lives, thus leaving little time for play (wann 137). in fact, it appears we largely have forgotten how to play. leisure is no longer a way to spend quality time with people, places and activities we love; instead, it's a way to spend more money. according to author david wann, "we've become world champion consumers partly because our culture doesn't know how to enjoy leisure; instead, we try to buy it" (137). wann explains:

we're socially conditioned to believe that passive relaxation yields the greatest happiness, and that consumption and possessions help us relax. by using various machines, media, and consumer products, we believe we can remove "distractions" like cooking, walking, and even thinking, so we can fully relax... but when we are simply under the spell of commercial stimuli on the tube or at the mall, we aren't creating ourselves but rather allowing ourselves to be created. we aren't aligning our actions with our values, but aligning our inactions with someone else's values. (126)

if we don't critically think and act against mainstream culture, we're likely to be swept away with its stream -- and we may not even notice it. this stream, however, is really more of a whirlpool -- a circular current of excessive desire, acquisition, and resource use. we desire too much partially because we think we need too much (wann 164). we must have the latest gadgets, the biggest houses, the trendiest wardrobes, the best of everything. these things, however, are hardly worth desiring because they provide minimal, if any, genuine happiness. thus while americans have become richer, we have by no means become happier. ever since world war II, the national opinion research council has once a year polled americans with the fundamental question: “taken all together, how would you say things are these days – would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?... the proportion of respondents saying they were very happy peaked sometime in the 1950s and has slid slowly but steadily in the years since" (mckibben 35). this phenomenon, commonly called the progress paradox,
seems to especially affect young people. our generation is wealthier, has more modern conveniences, and is better educated than those of the past but we lack basic human requirements: stable close relationships, a sense of community, a feeling of safety, a simple path to adulthood and the workplace (twenge 136).

as mentioned earlier our path is detrimentally circular: we want more, so we work more, so that we can buy more, which isn't satisfying us, so we want more... as one regular citizen states, "people aren’t satisfied, only they don’t seem to know why they’re not. the only chance of satisfaction we can imagine is getting more of what we’ve got now. but it’s what we’ve got now that makes everybody dissatisfied. so what will more of it do – make us more satisfied, or more dissatisfied?" (roszak 71). psychologists allen kanner and mary gomes suggest the latter: "consumer practices serve to temporary alleviate the anguish of an empty life. the purchase of a new product... produces an immediate surge of pleasure and achievement, and often confers status and recognition upon the owner. yet as the novelty wears off, the emptiness threatens to return. the standard consumer solution is to focus on the next promising purchase. perhaps the satisfaction will be more lasting and meaningful the next time" (roszak 79).

this futile behavior, according to kanner and gomes, is socially conditioned by american media and society at large. from youth, people "learn to substitute what they are told to want -- mounds of material possessions -- for what they truly want. by the time they reach adulthood, their authentic feelings are so well buried that they only have the vaguest sense that “something” is missing. having ignored their genuine needs for so long, they feel empty. but the emptiness is constantly denied. it is far easier, in the short run, to listen to the commercials, which are always beckoning, always promising, always assuring that this time, with this product, it will be possible to fulfill the heart's desire" (roszak 84).

thus while it may be easier to go with culture's stream, this stream remains incredibly hard on us and our world. basically we're wasting our time, energy, and money to buy lots of unnecessary things that require ghastly amounts of natural materials and fuels to produce. it's an all around waste of resources! to the market, unfortunately, this is actually the point; after world war II retailing analyst victor lebow declared, "our enormously productive economy… demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption… we need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing rate” (roszak 69)

though this "need" is inarguably false, it has come to feel very real for many people. indeed, materialism is now a widespread and incredibly harmful american addiction. when an addiction is the cultural norm, however, it is hard to realize that what we really need is detachment -- detachment from the contemporary american life of excess. only by letting go of the bad things -- too much desire, acquisition, and resource use -- can we begin to let in the good things. as a swedish proverb advises, "fear less, hope more, eat less, chew more, whine less, breathe more, talk less, say more, hate less, love more, and good things will be yours" (wann 41); in other words, if americans want less they're bound to get more -- more life.