Final post :(

Reflecting on back through the semester, there is one theme that has stuck with me more than all the others.  When we talk about consuming and products we normally think about the items we consume as the products.  But what we do not see is how theses items were marketed and sold to the real product, us.

In every way of life, people are the real products!  We cannot produce something without it being geared toward someone, and as such everything as a purpose to be sold to us.  Often we need to be convinced that we need these drugs or lawn mower.  This has stuck with me because I think it really challenges how people look and a normal capitalistic society.  People do not look at themselves as the product because they believe themselves to be better than that.  Reality shows us this is false.  With every click of an "I agree" or "allow" button we sell ourselves to make it better easy for companies to truly understand their products.  I think this is the relationship we have fallen into with consumerism and we have grown numb to ads made for us and accepted them as the norm.  In this way it is fascinating to watch how society accepts things to make their digital life easier.
 
I am not sure what to take away from this change in society.  Personally it creeps me out knowing how information is used by companies to understand people, it makes me feel like I am in a mental study.  I guess from this class, the themes discussed, I take away awareness.  Aware that the companies do not want people to change, they want us to keep living in a consume all end all manner, because they will just make it possible for their products to be happy in life.  The best example in my opinion was the Lary the Cable guy clip.  Keep living your unhealthy life and do not worry, we got your back with this drug.  I think about family members who are over weight and take heart medication when our family has a rich history of heart disease.  To me it would make more sense to live healthy and not solely rely on drugs to save them.