Social media, often in unhealthy ways, feeds into the natural human desire for the approval of others. So, it’s not surprising that 1 in 3 U.S. social media users say other people’s posts make them feel bad about their finances, according to a new Bankrate survey.
Young people are most affected, with 47% of Generation Z and 46% of millennials reporting feeling negatively about their finances as a result of spending time on social platforms.
Younger age groups also experience the greatest overall negative impact from social media. Only 38% of baby boomers reported feeling poorly about any area of life due to social platforms, while 84% of Gen Z affirm that the apps have had a negative effect on areas ranging from personal relationships to careers.
User behavior both drives and reinforces negative feelings. Younger age groups are most likely to say they make posts to appear successful to others, with 46% of Gen Zers and 38% of millennials saying they do so, compared to only 17% of Gen Xers and 9% of boomers. These individual posting tendencies are correlated with how people view other users. Seventy-three percent of Gen Zers believe that the people they follow post with the intention of appearing successful, but only 51% of baby boomers say the same.
This may simply be because Gen Z, more so than other generations, values professional success over things such as hobbies, friends, family, and religion. Or perhaps it’s just that the older generations, having had more time to accumulate wealth, are less obsessed with pretending they have what they do not. Whether or not such attitudes are due to the group’s stage of life or a more concrete difference in values, 42% of Gen Z respondents to a Barna survey said personal achievements were central to their identity, compared to 22% of baby boomers. For every generation other than Gen Z, family ranks highest in determining a person’s sense of self.
Misplaced sources of identity aside, Gen Z’s obsession with online appearance is counterproductive. Posting to portray success spurs on a cycle of evaluating others’ content by the same standard. It’s a cycle that only drives discontentment — and encourages behaviors that impede financial success.
A friend’s glamorous vacation, new home, or expensive lifestyle could have required taking on debt to finance. But you wouldn’t know that from viewing the photos on social media. The need to compete gives way to making unwise spending decisions.
Many of the factors that cause people to feel insecure about their money after using social media, such as peer pressure and a desire to be perceived a certain way, also promote impulse buying, a practice hard to resist when ads directly target users’ niche interests through the platforms, and stored credit card information makes ordering items possible with just a few clicks. Half of social media users say they’ve made an impulse buy, and nearly two-thirds of them regret one or more of those purchases.
The bottom line? If Gen Z really wants to be successful, a good start is to stop worrying about what others think online. To rest one’s success on the perception of others is to chase a mirage that will never deliver satisfaction.
