Social Media and The Underlying Materialism
It is interesting that with the surge in popularity of social media in recent years, Instagram and YouTube are becoming the platforms that provide job opportunities with incomes that are much greater than what an average American could make. Many people started their online careers as part-time jobs, but because of the overwhelming incomes from paid promotions, most of them chose to become full-time influencers sharing their daily lives, ideas, purchases, and various techniques that provided them hundreds and even millions of viewers. The wealth that the audiences and fans have provided many influencers the gate to a luxurious lifestyle. And this lifestyle would also be presented in the video and picture form where fine dining and high-end luxuries would be posted daily. Many teenagers in recent years became more attracted to this career than to pursue a professional career path because of all the lifestyles that the influencers have presented on social media without sharing their efforts behind the scene. I was greatly impacted by influencers for the last two years and I had purchased many products, from popular cosmetics to expensive skincare that they have promoted and turned out these are now sitting in the dust because of the pandemic, or I just simply don’t need them. I’ve never noticed how these are not necessary for my life before the pandemic. Thankful to the quarantine time, I’ve realized that all the unnecessary money that I have spent, and all the things that I bought to keep up with the trend were nothing compare to the meaning of life.
The idea of materialism has begun to immerse into the mind of people who uses social media. It will become a clear issue if this trend continues to rise according to the Iliad by Homer and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Both books presented the consequences followed by the strong desire for material good. Through the analysis of both books and with the comparison of the impacts the influencers have made to the societies, the issues associated with materialism and the consequences followed would be clearer.
With more and more influencers posting and sharing their luxurious lifestyle, this would provide a false impression that many people are living this way. People who were misdirected by this false impression would become strongly desired for material good because if many influencers are living in a similar way, they would imagine that there is a good chance for them to have the same lifestyle if they pursue the same career which in their opinion does not need a lot of hard works. The real idea behind wanting to become an influencer is materialism. This idea parallels with Homer’s depiction of Achilles in his book The Iliad. Achilles values materialism, and he was fighting because of the rewards that he was getting during the war. Honor and fame for him are not as important as the rewards that he was continuously getting. This was shown when Agamemnon took Briseis away, who was a prize granted to Achilles. Achilles immediately stopped fighting the battle and confronted Agamemnon, however, Agamemnon kept his decision. Achilles left the Achaean army because of this. He complained to his mother Thetis that “…at least Olympian Zeus, thundering up on high, should give me honor — but now he gives me nothing. Atreus’ son Agamemnon, for all his far-flung kingdoms — the man disgraces me, seizes and keeps my prize…” (The Iliad, Book 1 page 89). Achilles had made a connection between his prize and his honor. The loss of the prize indicated a loss of honor. Although Achilles was respected by the Achaean soldiers and feared by their enemies, however, these were not enough honor for Achilles. Agamemnon wanting Briseis after returning Chryseis also shows that the king needs a physical prize after invading Chryse to show his glory. The fact that they had successfully invaded Chryse is not enough to prove their success. Both Agamemnon and Achilles showed a strong desire for a physical prize than just the title of “kleos”. This strongly portrayed how ancient Greek valued materialistic goods in order to show their honor and pride.
In my opinion, the ancient Greek people had underestimated the importance of materialism for themselves. The entire book of The Iliad had emphasized how men must fight for their pride and honor, and the book depicted this idea by portraying Menelaus fighting the ten years of Trojan War to get back Helen, Achilles quitted the war because Briseis had been taken away, and Agamemnon took Briseis to replace Chryseis even if he would lose the strongest fighter on his side. The Achaean people and soldiers would definitely be grateful for Menelaus if he let go of Helen considering thousands of lives of the Achaeans could be lost. He would win more respect that way than in reality Achaeans even doubted themselves for the purpose of fighting the war for all these years. Achilles complained about not getting honor where he himself actually gave up the honor and respect he could receive from the Achaean soldiers by leaving the army. Soldiers were dying because of his mindless actions. Achilles even asked Thetis to convince Zeus to push back the Achaean army by helping the Trojan side in order to show that the Achaean army cannot win the war without the great hero, and how falsely Agamemnon’s decision is. And this had caused the lives of Achaean soldiers, and Achilles did not see their lives as important as Briseis been taken away. Materialism at this point is somehow above men’s lives and his country’s honor and pride. Obviously, people’s respect and honor do not satisfy their pride, but women do. And women were described as rewards and objects that are owned by men, so what these men were really fighting over was their materialistic desire. In modern society, people are definitely not attracted to fame and social classes if these are not related to wealth. Imagine fame would not provide any opportunities of earning more wealth, who would still choose to become famous and live under the spotlight where you have to behave properly all the time and what you earn is similar to what an average people could easily earn. The real idea behind the fame that the influencers get is wealth. And if money could not buy anything, it would worth nothing. Money in exchange provided them the most expensive house they could live in, the best car they could drive, and all the luxurious clothing, purse, and cosmetics that they are now affordable. All the desire for fame and wealth is because of people’s value of materialism and the greed for material good.
Homer portrayed Achilles in a similar way that he was fighting the war because he wanted the prizes. And as he valued materialism more than he valued the lives of Achaean soldiers, he was punished by his own fate by losing Patroclus who was his best friend. And it was then that he realized something more important than materialistic desire. It was the love between them and their friendship that drove Achilles back to the battlefield instead of more prizes than Agamemnon sent to please him. And this situation relates to a lot of real-life situations for many influencers who became famous. They often lost important relationships because the difference between an ordinary person and a wealthy influencer is becoming greater in time. Achilles also lost Patroclus because of their difference. Patroclus valued the lives of soldiers and decided to fight in the battle with the Achaean soldiers, where Achilles who valued his prizes more than the lives of soldiers could not feel the sympathy for the soldiers as Patroclus did. (The Iliad, Book 16, p. 412–413) Even after Achilles had killed Hector for revenge, he was still desperate for the loss of Patroclus. And the same might apply to influencers who started from the bottom and worked their way to the very top and realized the consequences of been trapped in materialism, which is the loss of their relationship, and this could hardly be reverted.
By showing their luxurious lifestyle online, the influencers are not the only ones that would become influenced by materialism, but their audience is also been affected. The world is now been impacted by the influencers’ lifestyles because of the rapid growth of technology. Ovid’s Metamorphoses portrayed more directly how people as a population would be affected when filled with materialistic ideas. Jove in the poem became raged by the humans and tried to destroy this humanity that was filled with greed and evil by the flood. Ovid emphasized the four ages which are golden, bronze, silver, and iron. The worst of these was the iron age where the earth was affected by human’s materialistic desire as it was “sequestered in Stygian darkness is now dug up as wealth that incites men to crime.” (Ovid, Metamorphoses p. 9) The excessive abuse of nature was depicted here by the greed of humans for the resources that earth had offered for free. The materialism had driven “men to crime.” And the society under the influence of solely materialism was also depicted by Ovid, “guest is not safe from the host, or a father safe from his daughter’s husband; Gratitude is rare even among brothers. Husbands can’t wait for their wives to die, wives reciprocate, frightful stepmothers brew their aconite, and sons inquire prematurely into their father’s age.” (Ovid, Metamorphoses p.9) A society that merely has any gratitude and crimes committed between family members and the earth was bloodstained by the hands of men. Earth is even scarier than what hell could be portrayed. Ovid here is warning the potential risk of when extreme materialism was met then there would be a loss of morale in humanity. This danger still exists and the risk is surging rapidly for modern society today. When influencers revealing a special limited-edition item that is affordable for many people, fighting always breaks out when people were waiting in lines to gain access to the limited edition. People hardly recognize that materialistic thoughts could lead a pure innocent person to violence and crime. For example, when there are new Air Jordan sneakers or Yeezy sneakers released to the market, it is very common to see fights break out in front of sneaker stores. And this correlates with what Ovid had stated: “wealth that incites men to crime.” The materialism behind wealth could potentially lead to crime, and our society does have many crimes committed that are driven by materialism every day. It is important for us to recognize the underlying risk of materialism and realize that with the surge of influencers online, the corruption of society by materialism could spread much faster than we thought.
Influencers online also benefit our society in a variety of ways. They created many jobs, many have given back to society, there are also influencers that share creative tips and smart ideas, and most of them had brought us joy. What enlightened me to write about this topic was that people who wear Zara or H&M were sometimes ashamed or upset with themselves when they are standing in front of people that wear Louis Vuitton or Chanel. The brands we wear do not define our characters, what matters the most is one’s moral values. Both Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Homer’s the Iliad had warned us that without moral values, materialism will only lead to corruption. Admiring high-end brands is not wrong, but it should not become the goal of life. I hope the influencers could use their impacts on the audience to spread more positive ideas besides materialism, and I hope the future adults during this time of social media would not be affected by the illusion of materialism.
