Reaction: American Psychosis

I have to begin by saying that my overall reaction to this article was, in a word, terrified.  All we hear today is talk of how poisoned our society has become and how it is slowly crumbling, but to see it written in such a descriptive, well thought out, and painfully accurate way was truly eye-opening.  As I read, I could only shudder at the thought of what the future of our society will bring, and how frightened I am for the children that will be forced to grow up during that time.  In my opinion, social media is both the problem and the solution to our societies obsession with material things and superficial states of mind.  First off, social media is part of the problem because it is what has allowed it's users to become the "look at me" generation; the generation that is completely obsessed with attention, and the generation that feels the need to share every detail of their lives.  After all, I have had the pleasure of hearing people actually say, "If you don't post it, did it really happen?"  Thanks to social media, we have the ability to give live updates of what we're doing, where we are, who we're with, what we bought, what we ate, what we think, what we're wearing, and everything in between.  The real question is, who cares?!  Unfortunately, this generation can't deny the fact that they do.  They have been trained by social media to become engrossed in the lives of others; worshipping and envying celebrities, while liking or judging the photos and status updates of those that they know.  Social media has made everything about our lives public, so who could help but to enjoy the show?  That being said, social media has the potential to be harnessed, and it's power can be used for good.   It can be used for promotions, for charities, for spreading the word on what's wrong with our country and what we can do  to fix it.  Surely these topics are already out there in the social media world, but how are we to see them when our timelines are filled with friends posting song lyrics, or the latest news on Justin Bieber?  The only way our society can be fixed is everyone buckles down and makes a conscious effort to changing their love of superfluous living.  Sadly, I don't see that happening anytime soon.