Affluenza The United States has transformed from colonies under British rule into a developed country in just hundreds of years. The Industrial Revolution has accelerated development by increasing the amount of products in the same amount of time. The United States is pretty on the outside. However, there is an epidemic called affluenza that affects the lifestyles of millions of people within the nation. Affluenza is a social disease, as it affects not only the rich but also the poor. According to the dictionary, affluenza is defined "as painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of the over-load, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more." In recent years, the U.S. has entered the age of affluenza completely. Therefore, a book which is named after the disease is written to introduce the symptoms, explain the causes of the disease, and provide the treatment to cure affluenza. After taking the self-diagnosis exam from that book, I realize that I am somehow infected by the sickness and I recognize I have symptoms of it. There is a symptom that influenceed my lifestyle indirectly. Although I am not under any stress, but my parents are affected. They work almost 7 days a week, from 8 am to 7 pm, about half of the day. The reason that they keep working is so they always want to buy something extra to our household, such as furnitures which does not fit in the apartment. For instance, I have two computers so there is always a free one for my parents to use. During last Thanksgiving, my mom bought another laptop computer. I was able to count how many times she has used it with my hands. Finally, that laptop computer was given to my cousin who started attending college last year. Currently, my mom is making plans to buy another replacement. The particular issue which affects me the most is my addiction to Internet and video games. I have spent too much money in playing online video games. Moreover, online gaming require monthly payment. Furthermore, game companies produce new games every year. Therefore, I have to stop playing one game and shift to another. Aside from video games, I also watch animes,dramas and TV programs on-line. Everything about my life is connected to Internet. After calculations, I am on-line more than 35 hours a week. If I spend 5 hours per day at the weekdays, that will be 25. Additionally, I surf Internet for at least10 hours at the weekend. In other words, if I am awake 15 hours a day, Internet will take up one third of the 15. Internet addiction also affects my health condition. Since the great amount of time that I spend in front of a computer, I have less time spend on exercises. Because of lacking of exercises, but keeping an intake of the same amount calories, I have over weighted much more than before. I think I am really sick of allfuenza at this point. Affluenza has brought about social chills to my life. There is an increase of time spending indoor comes along with my addiction to Internet and video games. Unlike I spend many hours on Internet, my friends would like to spend time seeking for the latest items to equip themselves in order to obtain an ideal social image. They can spend hours to drive to another city to buy the latest electronic items. Moreover, they often think of buying a new car when they receive paychecks from work. Whenever is someone's birthday, they always plan to go to a KTV and spend money and the whole night there instead of holding a less fatigue home party which also costs less. I have to spend money on something I don't need or want when hanging out with them. Because of the internal and external reasons, I start hanging out with them less often than I did before. One of the causes brings about affluenza symptoms is the unfulfilment inside us. For example, one of my friends is a full time student at City College. After leaving classes for a few hours, he has to work until midnight. Day after day, his job has become a mechanism without enjoyment. He does not go to class because he wants that job. As the unfulfilment keeps existing, it finally becomes a black hole to suck everything available to feel satisfy. One solution is that friend finds is to spend his money. Once he has holiday, he always calls us to go out no matter how much money we are going to spend that day, or buy the most recent sold items. However, not everyone agrees with spending money on meaningless consumption. That is why I would rather hang out with friends like him less often. Advertisements are important roles to satisfy many individuals' expectations. One strategy I often see is that companies sell their products with made-up dreams. The word dream is so fancy that every business would like to use it as a prefix to name their products. For instance, the kitchen stuff selling businesses can call them the dream kitchens. This strategy mislead consumers think that they seem more successful if they purchase these dream products. Otherwise, they are left behind the majority. Therefore, consumers with affluenza go shopping and make purchases without thinking the actual need. Another strategy causes addiction to video game or on-line game is selling with sex. Many games companies hire the hottest actresses to represent their games. To attract more consumptions, conpanies will give those actresses' autographes as present if game buyers meet the quota of purchases. In order to create a connecttion to my dream goddess, I have worked very hard in the game. To solve affluenza, it is important to know to stop and rethink. According to the text book Affluenza, experts suggest that affluenza patients should stop what they are doing that has caused their unfulfilled feelings, and hear to the ideal selves to look for something they desire to do deep inside. Finally, they should start doing what they have just found and completely enjoy their new work. Another treatment experts would suggest is to live more simply. According to stories in text book Affluenza, people who have been to less developed societies which do not require their residents work as much as they do in the U.S find that life can be easier and happier than they used to think. However, once they were back to the U.S, they could not follow the lifestyles here and could felt uncomfortable. To recover from this social sickness, patients can first clear up congestions in their households and start living with fewer materials. To contain the simple lifestyles, patients should watch less advertisement which leads them to social images that do not exactly exist. Moreover, simple lifestyle suggests patients to calculate their real expenses on what they exactly need to live on, and work less as long as they are able to afford the expenses, but spend more time with their family and friends. Just like myself, other individuals have symptoms of affluenza about swollen expectations, addictions to Internet and video games, and social chills. According to the reading, these symptoms are most likely comes from unfulfilments inside us and the inaccurate message from advertisements. As solution, I found treatments from text book Affluenza which I can use to cure myself, my family and my friends. If we do not concern about the social sickness right now, this planet may not be able to afford our livings and die out. We should stop the over-consuming behavior to save this living planet we all depend on.