Why Materialism Makes You Miserable

24 Oct Why Materialism Makes You Miserable

In today’s society, it’s almost impossible not to develop any materialistic tendencies. From a very young age we are being bombarded with glorification and celebration of the rich and famous in movies, advertisements, billboards, media, and so on.

We are taught that being a success in this world means being rich, famous, handsome, and admired by the masses.

It’s exactly this kind of programming and social conditioning that gets in the way of living a happy and fulfilled life. After all, how could you ever be satisfied if you believe in the materialistic values of a society that tells you the only path to happiness is through getting and being more. More what? More money, more friends, more cars, more Facebook likes, more Social Media followers, and so on.

Here’s the thing: Happiness and materialism are somewhat mutually exclusive; you can’t have both at the same time. That means, if you want to feel truly happy and fulfilled, you will sooner or later have to get rid of your materialistic tendencies.

What Is Materialism Anyway?

“A doctrine that the only or the highest values or objectives lie in material well-being and in the furtherance of material progress.”

That’s the official Merriam-Webster definition of materialism.

Here’s another one from Marsha Richins and Scott Dawson, two leading researchers in the field and creators of the first scale to measure materialism: “People are materialistic to the extent that they place acquiring possessions at the center of their lives, judge success by the number and quality of one’s possessions, and see these possessions as vital to happiness.”

Why Is Materialism So Bad For Us?

According to Sonja Lyubomirsky, a leading happiness researcher, materialistic tendencies are detrimental to your happiness and your social relationships. She sums up the negative consequences in her book switch from extrinsic goals to intrinsic goals:

“Why are materialistic tendencies important to identify? A mountain of research has shown that materialism depletes happiness, threatens satisfaction with our relationships, harms the environment, renders us less friendly, likable, and empathetic, and makes us less likely to help others and contribute to our communities.”

A little bit later, she goes on to add:

“At the individual level, materialistic individuals are less satisfied and grateful for their lives, have less purpose, feel less competent in general, are more antisocial, and have weaker connections with others. Indeed, when it comes to relationships, those with materialistic goals not only rate their own social interactions more negatively, but people in general rate their relationships with materialists as less satisfying as well.”

Basically, materialism renders you less happy, less grateful, less friendly, less likeable, less empathetic, and less purposeful. But hey, instead it makes you more anti-social, egoistic, incompetent, unfriendly – and it makes people think you’re an asshole on top of it.

If you want to be truly fulfilled, happy, and the greatest version of yourself… you will sooner or later have to part ways with materialism. (Nils and Jonas Salzgeber)

…. TO BE CONTINUED