Medium Maximization

Most of us go on living our fast paced lives not even taking the time to stop and think why we do the things we do.. (i.e work a 9-5, take out a loan for school or for that car you always wanted.)In this article about medium maximization and decision making, Hsee, Yu and Zhang do a good job in describing some of the ways in which mediums of exchange(i.e money) affect our every day lives without us even realizing it's true vale. As stated in the article, "Anything between our behavior and happiness is a medium." The question I would like to bring up is.. Do we pursue these mediums of exchange because they are easy to attain and give us a sense of progression, or because we are forced to, due to the fact that our lives are structured by a single minded monetarist system of living.