OPINION: Online shopping makes things too easy

Every generation has something trending, something new that is only specific to them and the generations before aren’t as comfortable or familiar with. For millennials and Generation Z, this is online shopping. With just the click of a button, you can buy anything and have it shipped anywhere. From a car to hair extensions, the web has it all and it’s been making that known for years; especially to us.

For most teens, money is not yet a major worry as we trust our parents to take care of “all that” why we enjoy our lack of responsibilities. While this is one of the benefits of childhood, when we are given free access to money, things go a bit awry. Since we don’t have to worry about the setbacks of having our own money and losing it, we don’t understand the value of a dollar.

“I don’t really think about, like, if I could spend that money on something better,” junior Brett Epstein said. “Since it’s all online it feels like it’s not, well, real.” When the option is open to get whatever we want without having to worry about anything but our parents being mad, we’re obviously going to take it. We know it’s wrong, we know not to press the button and we know we’re going to do it anyway.

The introduction of online payment services such as Paypal and Apple Pay comes on the heels of the credit card, all of which take away paper money and replace it with the idea of money. We can’t see the money, so we don’t feel the pain of giving a cashier a 20 dollar bill or breaking a $100. We see a button that means we get what we want and we click it.

Not only are these easy methods of payment causing such a drastic increase in consumers spending, but with sites like Amazon advertising their merchandise on every available outlet, vulnerable teens are shopping more than ever.

“Packages just show up at my house,” junior Ali Gann said. “Half the time I forget what I’ve even bought.”

I am just as guilty as anyone at getting on a shopping binge and not even remembering what I’ve bought. It’s not like I’m purposely trying to waste money, but I just can’t help myself from clicking that little button.

It’s become much too easy to buy things and money much too broad of a concept. Parent’s can’t control what their kids are buying because they usually understand the sites even less than their kids. We are stuck in a world that constantly tells us to buy things and gives us every available option to and then gets mad when we do. We’re being targeted by all of these new gimmicks and our maturity level is not rising with the new availability.Throwing away money, especially as our technology advances every day, is in right now and every teen I know is following the trend; including me.

“I definitely think online shopping is a problem,” junior Celine Alhout said. “We’re spending too much as a generation and it has to stop.”