Photo by Carbon NYC

From an interview at US News and World Reports, with Tim Kasser, associate professor of psychology at Knox College

"As I lay out in my book, The High Price of Materialism, people who put a strong focus on materialism in their lives tend to have poor satisfaction of each of these four needs [safety/security, competance, connection, freedom/choice]. In part this is because of their development, but it also is because materialism creates a lifestyle that does a poor job of satisfying these needs. That is, a materialistic lifestyle tends to perpetuate feelings of insecurity, to lead people to hinge their competence on pretty fleeting, external sources, to damage relationships, and to distract people from the more fun, more meaningful, and freer ways of living life."

Have you seen or experienced this in your life?