Never, in my youth, would I have believed that the media would become so powerful in the lives of people everywhere.  News, advertisements of all kinds, music, television, movies, magazines, the internet, telephones, photos and billboards ubiquitously crowd our consciousness every minute of our waking hours.

The amount of money spent on these enterprises is almost impossible to measure.  And their influence is felt in every aspect of our lives.  Unless a person is removed by religious beliefs or culture, it has a prominent place in the daily lives of most people.

I have concerns about this regarding our youth for two main reasons.  First of all, they are the part of the population that is most vulnerable to propaganda because of their lack of life experience and they may not have enough adult involvement to explain the motives of advertising.  Secondly, they want to belong and are highly influenced by what their peers think.

Even adults have trouble with the consequences of advertising, as is evidenced by ever-growing consumerism and proliferation of credit card debt.  Many people live beyond their means, and as the debt piles up, the credit companies flourish.

I realize that I am stating the obvious, but I sometimes think that we ignore the obvious and live in a reality of our own making.  It’s easier to do this than to face the facts.  The media effectively controls many aspects of the financial world, even when we choose to live within our means.  It is just too extensive.

Lastly, my biggest worry about advertising is that it has a profound effect on the way we see ourselves.  We are fed a constant diet of what we don’t have and how it would be different if only we bought this or that.  It is an ideology of a culture of lack as opposed to a culture of abundance.

Actually, we do have a choice about this, but can feel powerless to think and feel for ourselves when there are so many other entities vying for our attention. The brainwashing is so massive as to wear one’s self out trying to fight it.  But fight it we must, if we intend to be people who live life on our own terms, and not according to the media and their sponsors.  Advertisers have no interest in you other than to separate you from your hard-earned income.  As for me, I refuse to listen to those voices that are not concerned about me and do not have my best interests at heart.