Talks With a Teen #5 ft. Bayance

(sorry for this post being a ALOT late! Bayance and I have been super busy lately!)

Hey Dudes,

anddd, welcome back to talks with a teen!

Today we are joined with the lovely Bayance so go ahead and check out her blog – it’s awesome!

So the topic of todays talk issss –

Teens are obsessed with material objects and status

also if you haven’t seen the other posts in the series, check it some of them out here and here!

Let’s get into it!!

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Bayances thoughts –

Hey girl heyyy (and boy). I’ve been procrastinating on this guest post for agesss but I finally had the motivation to write it today. If you’ve read my blog before (*cough*ifnot,gocheckitout*cough*), you’d know that I rarely post any serious posts. All my posts are filled with laughing emojis but gifs so surprise, I’m actually serious sometimes haha. Plus, Alex’s blog is filled with serious posts so this is not weird at all. Only kidding, I’m starting a serious post series for the gloomy winter days soon so stay tuned for that. This post is long but hopefully worth the read and I hope it acts as a wake-up call for those sucked into materialism (we’ve all been there) so yeah, thank you Alex for creating this great series and enjoy!

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Admit it. At some point in your life, you became obsessed with social media, body image and the latest trends. It’s so common nowadays, especially in teens. We’re so wrapped around the idea of popularity and “fitting in” that we become so obsessed with clothing, makeup, our bodies and fake representation of our lives on social media. It’s human to have desires but when you’re blindly following a fake road that leads to absolutely nowhere, it starts to get unhealthy. And this my friends is called, materialism.

 Materialism; “a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values.”

Teenagers nowadays are starting to lose spiritual values and follow what trends, advertisers and friends say. Think about it. If the Iphone X were to still be in the market with all the same features and things that make it “amazing” BUT no one owned a phone or cared about the Apple company, would you really purchase it? The thing about materialism is that we often dismiss it as an over-exaggeration and not something that causes a great deal of mental health issues. Humans love grabbing what’s right in front of them. We jump at every chance to get an upgrade or purchase what everyone else wishes they had. But the issue here is:

1. we’re wasting our minds, money, time and soul over these things

2. we allow others to dictate what WE “need” (irrelevant products, validation..etc)

3. we grab what’s in front of us not keeping in mind the consequences that might be ahead

These consequences range from environmental and economical issues to loss of morality and time that could have been spent on things more beneficial. I’m really not here to teach you how to spend your time wisely because trust me, I’m the last person to talk. But it’s so sad to see other people around you so caught up with new phones, new cars, new mansions and social media followers.

Being so caught up with physical objects makes you miserable. You become so ungrateful because all you’re concerned about is grabbing the newest and trendiest versions. You just want more. Not only do we want what is in front of us but we want what other people own. This causes an immense amount of envy that it blinds you from what you already have. So much money has been put into marketing and industries and pointless objects whereas on the other side of the world, people can barely afford a roof on their head. I hate to be such a “people in Africa are dying” activist because personally, I don’t know if I can do much about it but just don’t be ignorant to the fact that you are so much more blessed than what society has falsely made you believe you were.

It’s not only the physical objects, it’s the virtual illusions. Video games and social media are the main ones. Apparently in the world we live today, people who have a large amount of status and following are suddenly royalty. Creating entertainment is suddenly a more important and recognized job than a doctor per say. And yes, I understand it’s art and talent but people will do whatever it takes to get followers. To get all these likes and comments. It’s satisfying for a few seconds when you post something and it receives so much attention. But then it wears off and we’re obligated to make our next posts crazier and better? All for what? For status? For attention? The standards that have been set for us are so toxic but we continue to blindly follow them.

Time is a huge loss when it comes to materialism. Here is something we’re all guaranteed: death. Here’s another thing we’re also guaranteed: resurrection. Now as much as I hate to break society’s law of everyone being entitled to their own beliefs and people can believe whatever they want – I have to bring this up. Death is something we haven’t faced yet but we’ve seen everyone around us face. That’s why we believe it. Because we can see it. But what happens after? We haven’t seen it yet but that doesn’t mean it’s not coming. We only have a limited amount of time on this earth and spending it on destroying our wellbeings and chasing after fake illusions is not the way to go.

 Everything in this life is temporary. Fruits are weeks away from rotting. Your new and expensive mansion is one fire away from vanishing. Your new Lamborghini that impressed all your friends is one crash away from destruction. Your social media presence is one button away from closing down. Your physical possessions are one robbery or natural disaster away from disappearing. You get the idea. We may like the feeling these materials may bring to us but they are not permanent. And life is too short to waste on trying to impress others or trying to collect money and fame. When it comes to putting your wellbeing at risk or the wellbeing of the people you care about it, it isn’t worth it. We always want more, completely ignorant to who we’re affecting..even if it means it’s ourselves who get harmed.

The Quran covers a lot of verses about materialism and there’s even a small chapter dedicated to it that I’m going to share to conclude this discussion and give you something to think about.

“Striving for more distracted you

Until you reached the graves

Indeed, you will come to know

Indeed, in the end you will come to know”

– 102:1 – 102:4 (I only mentioned the first four verses)

“Beautified for people is the love of which they desire- of women and sons, heaped-up sums of gold and silver, fine branded horses, and cattle and tilled land. This is the enjoyment of worldly life, but Allah has with Him the best return” – 3:14

Side note: Keep in mind that this verse has been revealed at the time of Prophet Muhammad which was about 1400 years ago. It still applies to us but gold and silver is now money and jewelry, fine branded horses is fine branded cars and cattle and land were a sign of wealth which a lot of people strive for today.

Desires are a normal human feeling, but learning to control them, especially in a generation like this one where distractions are more present than ever, is the key. Always remind yourself what the purpose of life really is and that death is not too far away. This is something I still need to work on too. Collect experiences, not materials. Who you are as a person should not be based on what you own, but on what you did.

Because when your life ends, the only thing that will matter is the lessons you’ve learned and the goodness you’ve left behind.

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What did you all think of Bayances’ opinion? Lemme know down below!

I have to say, I agree with Bayance ALOT. Everything IS temporary and people ARE wasting time on the complete wrong things. So you may have a Rolex, or a mansion, but we’re all dying the same deaths, all going sixth feet under – would you sacrifice happiness over materialism ? I know I wouldn’t, but then again, it’s not my place to judge as everyone 100% completely should have control over their lives !

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Sooo that’s going to be it for this blog post!!   Once again a massive thanks to Bayance for being a part of the series!!

ALSO, I’M LOOKING FOR MORE PEOPLE TO TAKE PART AS I’VE LEGIT GOT A TONNE MORE TOPICS SO COMMENT DOWN BELOW OR EMAIL ME!!

I hope you all have enjoyed this blog post and I’ll see you soon with another one!!

Love,

Alex – The Awkward Expert💞