Analysis Of An American Dilemm Your Clutter Or Your Life By Howard Mansfield
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In the essay, “An American Dilemma: Your Clutter or Your Life,” the author Howard Mansfield examines the problem of Americans have with an over abundance of physical and virtual clutter, that results in consuming them out of the ordinary pleasure needed to live a fulfilled life. Mansfield believes that this clutter has literally taken over American households depriving them of the room needed for their and the joy of interaction with one another. He demonstrates these points by providing examples from an expert opinion, along with statistics and studies. His expert opinion is from Don Aslett, whose authority includes owning one of the country's largest cleaning companies, fifty years of experiences poking around peoples homes, and writing clutter themed books. Aslett also contends that Americans have too much, and that they don't even know how it got there. He suggests that they rid themselves of anything that does no enhance their lives. Mansfield also gives statistical examples to confirm his stance on the effects of clutter. The first states, that adults spend more than 8.5 hours a day on some sort of tech screen. The second states, that a study clocked only 14.5 minutes of actual conversation between parents and children takes place on a daily basis. These examples give Mansfield the ammunition needed to support that not only has Americans materialism gone wild, but that it has caused them to have spiritual problems as well. He concludes, with telling his audience that the time to decide is now, “What is it going to be, your clutter or your lives?”…show more content… I just can not agree with his conclusion of it resulting in a spiritual problem that threatens Americans from having the ordinary pleasure in life. However, I contend that it is not what you have but what you do with what you have that has a direct result on a person's well