The economy is fine! We just have… money dysmorphia. /s

The gaslighting is at warp speed now.

  • aseriesoftubes@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Gaslighting? Did you read the article? It doesn’t say that the economy is fine. It’s about how social media makes people feel shitty about how much money they (don’t) have, because they see so many people living glamorous lives online.

    • CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Roughly 43% of Gen Z and 41% of millennials struggle with comparisons to others and feel behind financially

      This is the kind of attribution they are making, that its just a psychological condition and not an actual endemic issue that needs to be addressed.

      I can definitely see why the term “gaslighting” was used

      • dustyData@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        “Sir, 50% of the population has this virus called COVID.”

        “It’s just a virology condition and not an actual endemic issue that needs to be addressed.”

        • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          To know how endemic it is to younger gens, we would need a baseline and to know the prevalence in prior gens.

          I suspect that the progression of social media and influencers has amplified a false lifestyle perspective — the same as tv and ads/consumerism would’ve amplified them for prior gens — but I haven’t seen any large cross sectional or generational studies; only ones that are, at best, anecdotal.

      • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
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        8 months ago

        In a for profit world tech isn’t it mathematically straightforward that 50% is financially behind the other 50%?

    • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      It also says that people are doing far better than they think according to those who actually service these customers.

      • doingthestuff@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Well I’m not young but I haven’t been able to afford to go to the dentist in twenty years so I’d say that’s quantifiably shitty.

    • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      It has to be either or. There can’t possibly be multiple factors in play at the same time.

      • june@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        There are definitely multiple factors.

        But money dysmorphia isn’t one of them.

  • MasterBlaster@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    This is a muddled message. Are we caught up chasing an illusion, or are we just more acutely aware of our poor condition?

    It reads like it is saying the former, but then quotes statistics that reflect real loss of buying power. On the coasts 100k is no longer a large income. People really do live paycheck to paycheck while carefully managing their spending.

    I’m inclined to at least partially acknowledge the gaslighting comment as plausible.

    • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      100k is a fine income… People are still trying to live beyond their means if they can’t live somewhere decent in 100k

      No, you’re not going to get luxury in a big city.

  • PatFusty@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    Was it always the case that I would be turned down from multiple studio apartment complexes because I ONLY make ~100k a year? I cant afford spending the 2200 a month on rent and that being 33% or lower so I get denied. Has this always been the case or am I having money dismorphia? I’m only making 2X the median single income salary.

    • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      This has always been the case in an unaffordable big city. Even B4 covid.

      What part of you guys can’t afford to live there don’t you get?

      • PatFusty@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        I can’t live 1 hour from a big city? I’m not in downtown lol how do you expect people to work regular menial jobs in big cities if none of the work force can live near them?

        • mipadaitu@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Just live 100 miles away where the cost of living is dirt cheap and take a helicopter in to work.

  • 3volver@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Our entire economic system is out of balance, debt is rampant in the midst of late-stage capitalism, and they come up with the term “money dysmorphia”. 🤡

  • Steve@communick.news
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    8 months ago

    Only 14% of Americans consider themselves wealthy

    Only 14%? I’m shocked it’s that high!

    I thought “Wealthy” was when the passive income of the money you already have, pays more than you typically spend.
    Basically when you can “Live off the interest alone.”

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I thought “Wealthy” was when the passive income of the money you already have, pays more than you typically spend. Basically when you can “Live off the interest alone.”

      I see your version of more of “Financial Independent”. Aka “Fuck you money”. At that level you don’t need to work anymore for a decent life, but you’re not living in what most would consider wealthy luxury. If you need a refresher on “fuck you money” I refer you to this primer (language warning).

      “Wealthy” is when you have “Financial Independent”, and you don’t have to look at prices of anything before you buy it. At the lowest tier of “wealthy” $100 is like $1. To the highest tier, there is no likely object on Earth that is outside of their reach.

  • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    I count myself blessed for having earlier made the realization that I value financial security way more than the shiny new thing. What I also realized that often it’s not the shiny new thing where all my money goes to but it’s the repeating expenses from that daily starbucks coffee to groceries and utilities. If you find a way to save there it’ll start accumulating quickly.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      That’s a big if.

      A huge percentage of Americans (my family included) live paycheck-to-paycheck. There’s little or nothing left to save. They have everything from student loans to medical debts.

      Criticizing someone for spending a few dollars a day on coffee to make their life a little more bearable is placing the criticism on the wrong party. You should be angry that anyone should have to make such unnecessary sacrifices. You should be angry that we can’t all get the shiny new thing if we want it.

      • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        You should never rely on luxury items to “make your life bearable”.

        Pretending Starbucks makes you happy is literally half your problem.

        How does it feel to be so weak your coffee literally owns you at this point.

        You’re fighting giving up coffee harder than you’ve ever fought for higher wages.

        You’ve shackled yourself and you blame the person pointing out your shackles?

        Ignorant AF.

  • tal@lemmy.today
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    8 months ago

    In fact, more than half of Americans earning more than $100,000 a year say they live paycheck to paycheck, another report by LendingClub found.

    I think it’d be interesting to see what would happen if some states had personal finance classes in their curriculum and some didn’t, see if there is a measurable impact down the line.

    • TORFdot0@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Personal finance classes probably would have a non-negligble impact on the people that just mindless spend and don’t save for retirement etc.

      But I would think also that the wildly inflated housing and child care costs and the inelastic demand between the two means just an unexpected health emergency or unanticipated home maintenance spending would leave a family in debt and living paycheck to paycheck until its paid off.

    • MasterBlaster@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Well, my own observation shows me that most people don’t know the first thing about basic finances: compounding interest, budgeting, critical thinking when seeing advertisements, and the cost of take-out vs making dinner are some examples.

      For gods sakes, check your credit card and bank balances once in a while!. smh.

  • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝@feddit.uk
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    8 months ago

    Overwhelming evidence suggests social media has a negative effect on self-esteem.

    That’s all they really need to say - it will clearly have an impact on how people perceive their own looks and lifestyle when they’re likely doing fine. I’m not sure they need to invent a new phrase to describe it.

  • Copernican@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I believe the article. My junior coworkers that are young fresh out of college grads landing 100k salary feel behind. Median us household income is like 78k. The article is about the psychological impact. Although I don’t doubt that there’s people struggling and inflation and wage stagnation are real, I think we shouldn’t doubt that what this article describes as money dysmorphia isn’t also real.

    • This is fine🔥🐶☕🔥@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Yeah there are people who earn a lot but are absolutely shit at managing their income. No wonder large chunk of them are also influenced by what they see on social media.