Consumerism, advertising, and postmodern humanity

In looking at the role of advertising in promoting a consumerist mentality- advertising sells not just specific products, but consumerism, acquisitiveness, mammon, a mindset and a lifestyle- in making citizens into consumers, and then manipulating those consumers- it would be useful to look at what kids (and parents, for that matter) are like who keep their children away from television (and, hence, TV ads), and other forms of electronic entertainment and communication used to transmit advertising.

One of the things that makes me feel ambivalent about the internet, much as I make use of it myself, is that it has become so integrated into most people’s social and work lives, even in terms of email alone, that it is hard to avoid using it, but this has brought advertising, in every moment, into our homes and workplaces, made it always at the periphery of our state of mind, because whether emailing at work or doing Facebook at home, you’re seeing ads. It also contributes, of course, to overstimulation (hence, anhedonia and problems focusing, concentrating, being able to sustain a line of thought, as well as being able to think of original thoughts in the first place, or tending to think any thoughts at all).

Before the internet, an interdepartmental memo didn’t have ads attached to it- now, memos come through email, with ads on the side of the screen (depending on the email you use). Before Facebook, people would reconnect with people they hadn’t seen in a while who live elsewhere by a phone conversation- something more substantial than messaging back and forth or commenting on the same picture once in a while, or they would write a letter, and neither phone calls nor letter-writing requires seeing ads. Facebook does. What kind of effect does this have on us? Not just in the sense that ads promote consumerism and acquisitiveness, but a superficial focus on money, things, and a certain physical appearance and social manner for men and women?

What are we doing to ourselves? And how much of what we are doing to ourselves is really voluntary? How much of it is imposed upon us by pervasive societal structures, to varying degrees based on demographic factors such as class, race, and locale (urban, suburban, or rural), in ways that make it highly unlikely for us to opt out of them, or even make the choice to do so non-viable?