Not a week goes by when we don’t have several firms telling us to get a credit card with them. Could this be a reason for the current financial crisis; the ease of getting hold of money? With a credit card you tend to spend now and think about how to pay the money off later, whereas with cash you can see what you are spending and see it depleting before you.
I’m not saying credit cards are bad, often they are useful in an emergency and, if buying items online, it means you have insurance incase something goes wrong. The problem arises when people start to spend beyond their means which is easier to do these days.
My worry is that tomorrow’s children will face similar issues and not learn from our mistakes. The long running game of monopoly now has a credit card version. How can the children see their money going and see how well they are doing. Children need to see objects to learn, not numbers. They won’t learn unless they can see their pile of money getting smaller or larger.
As well as this, children will get used to using credit cards and therefore think nothing of it. Will cash soon be a thing of the past, with plastic becoming the new future?
If this happens it will be a sad day. Money in your wallet means you will stop spending when it runs out. If you don’t stop spending you’ll end up in debt and the vicious circle that we are currently in will happen again.
By Charlotte Toop
