Sarah Kinzler

Reenactment: Online shopper, Dylan Senecal

The online shopping world has grown tremendously over the past few years. As the Internet has become more accessible, big name companies are taking advantage of teenagers’ screen time. This is occurring not just by sending blast e-mails, but by offering online deals only, sending out emails with coupons that can only be used online, and the most popular, free shipping. All of these advertising tactics are working, and now more than ever, teens are shopping from the comforts of their own beds while knowing that their purchase will arrive at there house within 7-10 business days. These brands make the clothes so accessible to young people that they no longer feel the need to leave their house when they want something. All they have to do is put their items in a virtual bag, and press the “checkout” button.

While online shopping has the benefits of not having to leave your home and not having to trek all the way to the mall, it also has some downsides. When does online shopping cross over the line from convenient to addicting? Many teenagers these days would agree, that at a certain point, shopping online could become a problem. Due to the fact that you are not physically giving a sales associate the cash, or a credit card, the money can fly out of your account faster than one would think. Before you know it you could have spent $1200 online and not even realize the consequences until the bills come, and that now, you can’t spend that money on something you actually need, like gas, or food. At a certain point we need to wake up and realize that the pair of Doc Martins we have been lusting after will be there forever, and we have to let it go.