Do we ever have control over our own lives?

When watching the "Merchants of Cool" documentary about young teens and adults, and how they are shaped by the corporations controlling the market and what we see on television and media. When watching this documentary, the question of actual freedom over my decisions of what I purchase and portray myself came to question.

When products are so tailored to your gender, ethnicity, and more. How could you say, what you buy is what you like. When I think of myself and the shoes I like, I think of Vans, Nikes, and many more, but when I think it about it more and more, it becomes clear that there is no coincidence that myself and millions of other teens like the exact same brands of clothing.

Everything we see on a regular basis is simplified to our liking. When we scroll on Instagram or scroll through Snapchat stories, we are hit with an advertisement tailored to what we have searched on the internet or even what we have mentioned in the previous conversations. This leaves me to think that we can't even view the things we want to see when big corporations are force-feeding us all this information and products.

I believe that we are not completely doomed as a society, but I think that we are more restricted by influences around us. And all we can do as a generation is to take a second look at what we purchase and what message is being portrayed to us.