My interview:

I had to go to forever 21 today with my cusin to return clothes, so I decided to interview a few people in the store. I write down a few questions and I printed out a 2 pictures that I found online. Although it was really crowded, it was extremely diffcult to find the right person who had patience to stop their shopping to answer my questions. And finally after being rejected 12 times I found a girl who was generous enough to answer my questions. And this is how it went...


name: jessica
age: 13

What does shopping mean to you?
exchanging money for things you need and want
How old were you when you started shopping on your own?
10ish
How often do you shop?
*smiles* every week
Why do you shop? Is it for fun, do you consider it as a hobby?
to get new things,new stuff...I think its fun...especially when getting new clothes I just feel good adding a new shirt in my closet
Good as in...?
its almost like I enjoy it...like pleasure
What is pleasure?
doing or having things you like
Do you define pleasure and happiness as the same?
no not really
Why not?
I don't know pleasure is more exciting
So what is happiness then?
not having to worry about anything...when your happy you don't have to stress or worry anything you need because you already have everything
Do you think everyone should be happy?
yea, the world would be a better place
What are you usually looking for when you are shop?
mostly shirts and jeans
Do you ever pay attention at the cashier, are you aware of how much you spend?
no not really, well usually my dad pays so I don't really pay attention
Give me an estimation.
I don't know..umm $70 or $80
How do you feel when your parents won't buy you something?
I get mad cuz I want it...I usually make a trantum till I get it and if I don't get it I won't talk to my dad till the next day
Do you ever felt bad, that you spend too much money?
umm..sometimes..depending on how much i spend...like if he spends $200 that’s a lot of money
So $200 is too much money?
I think like $400 is a lot of money...well if I get clothes $200 is too much but if its electronics obviously its going to be much more
When do you know your ready to leave the store?
when I have everything in the store that I like.
Do you ever notice anything when your shopping?
I notice if the packaging of the makeup I'm buying is pretty... the atmosphere of the store also has to be very pretty
What do you mean by pretty?
I don't know like if the packaging is plain then its boring, it has to have cool colors and designs
Do you think there is a problem with teens shopping?
umm, I don't think there is but sometimes I see really young kids like at the age of ten who have bags that are really expensive and I don't think that's reasonable
So when does it become reasonable?
until you like 20, you know the value of what is inside of the bag so you will take more care of things
How much money do you think parents should give their kids to shop?
I think we should get about $70 or $80 like when your 11 or 12 years old
What comes to mind when you think of the word addiction?
basically smoking... crack and drugs
Why do you think people take drugs?
To distract themselves from things that are happen like if someone is trying to run away from their problems
Do you think that people shop for the same reasons?
yea well,sometimes but people usually shop to have fun
What is having fun?
not sitting around and doing nothing...usually being with my friends
like sometimes I'm with my dad and I want to go out
Why don't you like being wit your dad?
because their nothing to talk with him about
So your telling me thei is absolutely nothing you and your dad can talk about?
no..not really
Do you like your dad?
yea but what is there that we can talk about?
Do you think its possible for one to become addicted to shopping?
Yea, I think its possible
How do you know when someone becomes addicted to shopping?
when they go shopping, and they don't need anything and they have to just to spend money.
Once you have your own children at what age are you going to let them start shopping on their own?
when there 11, if I have money and they need it...I'll let them
What do you want to be when you grow up, what are your plans for the future?
I want to be rich
Why?
cuz my parents are always worried about money and bills and I just want to shop without having to worry about debts, I also don't want me not having money to be an excuse for them to not go shopping and not having something to eat
Why do you rather be rich than middle class?
cuz I'll have more money, better things for them and better things for me'
What do you mean by "better"?
better things than what I have now
What do you have now?
Well I do have things I need like food and clothes
So if you say that you already have the basics having more equals better?
well yea kind of, people always need more in order to live, well at least I do.

What comes to mind when you see this picture?



people shopping, everything looks really fast
Are u surprise by this picture?
no
Why not?
because I always look at it,when I'm at the mall
So your use to seeing this?
yea
And you don't think there is anything wrong wit this pic?
nope.
Do you know what sweat shops are?
yea, kinda I don't know a lot about them but I know what they are...it's where they make clothes.
Who's they?
workers
Is that all u know?
well the workers are usually from different countries...like from Africa
Can you name some of the issues that are happen around the world?
the war and global warming and pollution, starving children in other countries...that all I can think about right now
Do you think about this issues often?
no, not often
Like how often?
like probably every other week, think
Do you think we, as teenagers can help stop or reduce this problems?
I don't think we can stop the war and global warming or help starving kids that are miles and miles away
Have you ever felt so overwhelm with poverty or any other issues that you don't ever bother doing anything about it?
I never felt overwhelmed by it
Why is that?
since I don't really think about it do i don't get overwhelmed by it
Why do usually think about?
*laughs*of how I'm going to do my hair tomorrow, places I want go or things I want to buy
Why do you think teenagers like you are so concerned about their physical appearance?
well if your walking on the streets people are going to judge you by the way you look
I don't think its a good thing but that how it is, you have be kinda of presentable
What is presentable to you?
well, when I get up I have to either straighten my hair so its really straight or I have to put things or products in to it so it can be the right kind of wavy
What do you see when look into this picture?


there are poor Indians and they are dirty, they look pretty happy to be poor though, I wouldn't be smiling if I were them.
If you can change one thing about this world what would it be?
I don't know there's too many things to just choose one
What do you mean by there is too many things?
there's too many things wrong with this world
Can you name a few?

(http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/socialstd/grade7/india/Sweatshop.html)
I already did

addiction(S)

There is so many addiction now this days, that over the years it been hard to distingush whether or not a person is addicted. And even now there is a be battle trying to make people understand that addiction isn't always just when someone has the constant urge to consume substances in order to obtain pleasure. In fact there is main types of addiction, subtance addictions and process addictions.
Subtance addiction is the one that most people are familiar with, this addiction includs drugs,achohol,and smoking. In the other hand process addiction involves gambling, spending, shopping, eating, and sexual activities. And although they might involved different activites, theres isnt that much of a difference between the two. One mainly being the great role Psychological dependece has on both of this addictions. Psychological dependence is the necessity a someone has to taking-in asubtances or do a certian activty in order to have mental stability. Pyschological dependence is also what pervents or makes it harder someone to withdrawal. As it get harder to let go of an addcition the more and more damges ocurrs in ones life.


What problem are caused through complusive shopping?
Compulsive shopping or spending may result in interpersonal, occupational, family and financial problems in one's life. I think that this one of the main things people misinterperted about shopachohilcs, they think that the conflicts that rise are finical problems, but truly the damage done is more the one could afford.
From my personal expierence,my addiction really did affected my realtionship with my parents. I remeber how much hate i had towards them, I felt so negeletd, there money for was kind of a symbol of their love. Perhaps we should understand the root cause of addiction. I truly dont think that being addicted to something is as simple and easy as many people define it.
We just have take a moment and truly think whats the motive of our actions.
Is it because we can afford to spend our free time shopping unlike some other countires? Or because we're in some kind sadness and we use the addciton as way of clouding what we truly feel? If its painful and emptiness that is casuinf our actions, we must not ignore the feelings, instead one should try to figure out what is missing within us,



(http://www.faqs.org/health/Sick-V1/Addiction.html)

shopaholic.

Although shopping may be agrued that it isnt as sever in as other addictions, but it still resembles and sometimes causes the same damges just as if some one was a drugaddict or an acholic. One people hear that someone else is "shopacholic" they often giggle and think its very silly. And ususally jump to the conclusion that noone can really get addicted to shopping. This is why I feel the need to inform people that being addicted to anything is very traumatizing regardless of kind of addiction it is. From gambling to playing viedo games, the damage that is done is imense and although there always to get help, nothing will ever be able to ease the scars left.

ad·dic·tion

I constantly feel as if this teenager consumerism isn't address that often, which is one of the main reasons why it gets harder and harder for people to see shopping as an addiction. Today as I went to the third street promenade I asked a few people what came to mind when they heard the word "addiction," majority responded by either saying drugs, cigarettes or alcohol. I wasn't so surprise when I heard their answers, I also saw addiction as someone who had the habit of taking some kind of substance like drugs. But maybe that's the problem we sometimes stick to one definition and don't look bother looking farther. It's quiet clear that this problem has rapidly raised over the years more and more and will continue to if nothing is done about it. But in order to try to solve this problem, we must learn more about it to be able to fully understand it before we can even try to get rid of it.
What is addiction?
Through out my interviews, one of the questions I asked was whether they knew someone who had an addiction or a hobby that they seem to have no control over like playing video games, out of the ten people that I interview six of them said they did. If this is so, and most of us are so familiar with addiction, why is it so hard for people to define what it is. What is exactly the definition addiction? In the dictionary addiction was defined as "The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or involved in something." Immediately the word "compulsively" caught my mind and jumped to the word "obsession." All this thought were then reminded me of how earlier today people were so engage as they shop. There obsession for clothes was so alive and easier to see more than ever, but if this was so why is it harder for one to realize that they are addicted to shopping?
I feel as if addiction isn't just an activity that one that has the habit of doing, or suddenly gets hooked on. Perhaps this is why its so hard for us to truly define what an "addiction" is....and maybe no one will ever be able to explain, because there is so many parts to it. But there is never anything wrong with trying. : )

(http://www.moritherapy.org/article/the-definition-of-addiction/)

My story

Did you know that in a 2006 standford Unviersity study, concluded that compulsive overspending or overshopping is a legitimate disorder that affects approximately 6% (17,000,000) of the U.S. population and that men and women suffer about equally?
Pretty insane isn't it? I always thought that the only crazy people who would literally shop till they drop were big countries like China or Japan. But I never imagine that consumerism would be so sever in the United States, I would never thought that I was among theses 17,000,000 people who suffered from addiction.
Yes, I at the age of 12 contributed to one of the biggest controversy in America, teen consumerism. I don't know whether my problem was that craved everything that I saw, or if I was truly obsessed with clothes but somehow my daily routine of going store to store led to an addiction. It took a great while when it cross my mind that there was something wrong or with what I was doing. I always felt pretty normal, after all how was I suppose to figure out that I had problem, when everyone around me were doing the same? Even when the I started to realize that there was something strange about my shopping, I tried to convince myself, that it was just my imagination. I simply couldn't be addicted to shopping? How pathetic is that? It was especially hard to admit that I had a problem because I always imagine addicts as a certain type of people. For me, addicts looked a certain way and dress a certain way, as if they were born to be addicts. I look back now and I realized that I was completely wrong. I didn’t grow up loving shopping, in fact shopping for me was what I did with my family in rare occasions. I wasn’t that typical three or four year-old brats that would always ask for the Barbie. It was until my mom along with my dad started working day and night nonstop, when I started shopping. Being the youngest of three sisters I never quiet knew what it felt to be completely alone, but I do remember how much not having my parents presence affected me. I was around the age of seven when I completely stop seeing my parents unless it was about for 1 hour day when they would be usually be sleeping. This caused my to rely mostly on my two older sisters, but even they couldn’t do as nearly as much as a parent could. Growing up was very hard, because I was never really understood why my parents had to work so hard. I always envy my sister as well my friends because they knew what it was like to have a mom or a dad. My envy and feelings would bring me to the thought that my parents didn’t love me as much, that I wasn’t enough of a reason for them to stay at home. I use the excuse that they would work so hard to give everything I needed, and maybe that was the true real reason why they worked so much. But somehow I misinterpreted this and got mixed up with what I need and what I wanted. If my parents were going to work so hard, I might as well make it worth while. Although my parents were barley home, they always gave us money, in case of anything, it was with this money that I shopped with. It first became as just as a way of how I spend all my free time. And then I began to really enjoy it, I found pleasure in going piles and piles of clothes until I found the perfect shirt. I then found something beyond the pleasure and the pretty clothes, I found comfort. Shopping was no longer something I did, it was something that I must had to do. And when I didn’t things would go bad. My parents then started to realize how I would spend so much money every day, and finally one day decide to put to stop to it. They decided to do this, by not giving me allowance anymore, I cried so hard that day. I remember screaming to my parents how that they were doing this because they didn’t love them anymore. But not even my screams made a difference, I wasn’t going to get even a dime any more Not shopping was so hard, especially being surrounded by so many stores here, in Santa Monica. I was even tempted to shoplift once, but I never did. Thank God, I didn’t. I had to figure out how to entertain myself once more, so I open a book. This was how I came upon my new obsession of reading. Even after I got my allowance back, I didn’t go back to my shopping habits. I look at people shopping now, and it frightens me to know that not so long ago I was them. Although I was able to escape from this, I still fear for those people out there. I always wonder what would of become of me if it wasn’t for my parents, what would of happen? I know I wasn’t the only one out there suffering from this, and there still people who continue to deal with this addiction without even knowing it.

her words caught me offguard.

I must say that this weekend was one of the realistic things i have felt in a very long time, and strangely to say it involved no tears. I went back there again...(to the mall) and the moment we were parking I knew the feeling was going to get to me again. But this time there was not a single second that I felt "normal" or the ususal moment where I would make myself promise that I won't buy anything but then I end up running to the stores once something catches my eye. I felt so unconfortable, the clothes no longer looked as pretty fabric but as posinous venom and the moment I got close to it or touch it, it would completely dissolve me and eat me into pieces. I wanted to protect everyone from it, but especially me. It was so tempting to just want to glance at it, but even staring seemed like a trap. The thoughts started spinning agian, and I just wanted to puke them out of my system. But I couldn't...there is no way I'll be able get rid of this feeling...and I didn't expect my self to. I know not many get to see and feel what I do, and I have taken this for granted often too many times, so I just crossed my fingers and I hope I would be out of there soon. Thankfully we just ate breakfast and left. I was so relieved when we were done, I couldn't breathe in there. I guess my suffication was noticeable and she asked me what was wrong. I was so frusterated with my own weak body that I didn't even bother responding.
What would she know about this anyways? Its not like she would every be able to understand.
The ride home just allowed my frusteration to rise more and more, and right when I was about to flood myself once more in my cloud of tears, my friend's words came to me.
I don't know excatly what caused me to do what I did that afternoon and till this day I still don't, maybe I had drown to many times and I just wasn't ready to sink again so easily. I grab her hand and took her outside as I carried a magazine. We sat down on my front lawn and I sowily started unfolding her with the same delicatenss. Our hearts soon started beating to the same rthyum and we carefully reopened the passion we shared for shopping through the oppiste door. I figured that she must see it from another angle to get a better taste of the coldness of herself and her world. Maybe we were both caught up in the moment but we sat there for hours and hours until sunset. I knew I wasn't done, or any where close to done. but I knew that my first seed was planted.
"I never knew you were this smart"
"I'm not....you just need to look at things a little bit harder"

although our eyes never meet...I knew our hearts did, as they skipping through the same path.

"allow me to make you beautiful" was the end of our conversations as I hugged her close to me, not wanting to let go.

i wanted to protect her more than ever... i wanted to protect this little seed of mine.

Rearrangeme.

Today I had a pretty amazing talk with a friend of mine (well it was more like me crying and her consoling me)but anyways talking to her was really relaxing, when is it not? I talked to her about this girl I knew, that has been hiding from the world for almost all her life. And how frighten I was of her...and the disgustedness I felt by almost everything. Overwhelmed by all this mix feelings, was the result of the salty water running down my cheeks. She let me sob like a little baby and then slowly unfolded me like a napkin. The ability she has to do with this with such delicateness, had my eyes glowing with admiration, and I couldn't help myself but to tell her how beautiful she was. She responded by telling me that this was because I allow her to be beautiful. I can't understand this, how can this all be a product of me? Beautiful is something that has ran out of my head and thoughts a long time ago. Beautiful is something that I rarely get the privilege of seeing. She is one of the few people I have the honor of meeting and completely say that there are beautiful without hesitating. This can't be...it simply can't. She responded to my confused expression by saying "I am empty too; you just haven't seen that side of me." Perhaps i am blind by her humbleness and kindness to understand this. I can imagine her as being empty as she says she is, I refuse to see her in another way than being that beautiful human being she is. "The human body isn't a box that completely defines one person...an individual is compose of different aspects fused together", is somewhere between the lives of what she told me.
And you know what?
Even though I might not understand it now...I’ll take her word for it.


Advice of the day: allow others to be as a beautiful as you are, they should have the same opportunity to live as much as you do