“Anna, all your clothes have been stolen,” my mother said over the phone and instantly, I became devastated thinking about all the clothes I had lost that I recently bought such as some athletic shorts, tank tops, jeans and some t-shirts I have gotten from camps or made with my friends that counted as memories.

When our dryer broke a few weeks ago, we had to use the Laundromat to dry them. No one stayed to watch my clothes, and someone simply stole them from the dryer while we were gone.

Now I look back at that day and think of how dramatic and petty I was, crying and getting mad, thinking it wasn’t fair. I can’t believe I was so upset over losing clothing; although it was a big chunk of my wardrobe, it shouldn’t have mattered that much.

After that happened and I finally got over it, I started to wonder why people were so connected to material things. I do admit, I love clothes like most people I know do, but spending hundreds of dollars on clothing and being a so called “shopaholic” is a bit much.

One of my friends recently got two articles of clothing stolen from her and had a very similar reaction as I did. She was very upset, because when you lose something you worked hard to earn, it does stink. Although it hurts to lose material things, something like clothing shouldn’t be cried over when there are more important things that should.

In this materialistic world possessed by social media, it is very easy to fall into a habit of spending most of our earnings on material things and ignoring important things such as family, friends and our school work. I personally try to put down my phone every once and a while to be with my family or do some work, but I still bring my phone around with me trying not to miss a status update or latest post, which scares me. My friend once told me she feels naked without her phone, which back then I didn’t think much of, but now I can see that many people, including myself, feel that way too.

Many people today are obsessed with material things such as clothes, shoes, bags, and phones especially. While I do take part in this obsessive culture, and I understand why someone could love these things, I am also aware that it can become harmful for a person to become attached to something because eventually it gets old or useless and isn’t worth keeping anymore.

I am to this day still a little disappointed in losing those clothes. It’s not fair when you worked hard for something and it gets taken away. But I try to think maybe the person that took my clothes needed them more than I did, and honestly, in the end, does that $20 shirt from Hollister really matter?