美国年轻人流行“末日消费”
2024-11-22 20:09阅读：
Anxious Americans are 'doom spending' to cope with the
election, economy
Economic experts told Fox News Digital that social media addiction
could also be a factor
By Lindsay Kornick
'Doom spending' is the latest economic trend among young Americans,
though it certainly isn’t a good one.
A CNN report found millennial and Gen Z shoppers across social
media taking part in the act of 'doom spending' or 'the practice of
spending money to soothe fears about broader issues like politics
or the economy.'
CNN correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich reported Monday, 'What we‘re
seeing is that showing up in doom spending. Essentially, if you‘re
not feeling good about the economy, you feel like maybe that home
purchase that I was tr
ying to make is so far out of reach that I‘m going to spend in
other ways to try to make me feel better.'
She continued, 'Or if you‘re not feeling the results of the
presidential election, you may spend a little bit to try to take
your mind off things. It‘s that dopamine hit that you‘re looking
for to start to feel good again.'
Yurkevich warned this could backfire if the habit is not
controlled. She reported about half of Americans are carrying some
form of debt and over $1.1 trillion worth of credit card debt in
the country.
In a comment to Fox News Digital, Anthony Miyazaki, a professor of
marketing at Florida International University, agreed there seemed
to be an uptick in doom spending in part due to 'uncertainty both
prior to and after the U.S. elections [which] has increased anxiety
for many people.'
He said, 'These consumers rationalize their large expenditures by
saying that if they don’t spend now, they aren’t sure they’ll be
able to spend like this in the future due to changing economic
conditions.'
'Because doom spending involves negative perceptions of what the
future holds, it can evolve into a self-fulfilling prophecy of
sorts because the spending itself often leads to worse economic
conditions for the consumer,' Miyazaki remarked.
He added social media bombardment and the upcoming holiday season
as other factors to these spending habits. However, he suggested
the habit could be beneficial to the economy so long as it’s
controlled.
'Considering the intensity of the recent political campaigning and
all the negative emotions people have been feeling, if a doom
spending session is what it takes to ease those worries, perhaps
it’s not as grim as it appears as long as shoppers can afford those
credit card payments going into the coming year. After all,
spending spurs economic growth and now doom spenders can pat
themselves on the back for doing their part to stimulate the
economy,' Miyazaki said.
By contrast, Aaliyah Kissick, a Gen Z financial literacy advocate,
argued that the real problem was social media addiction and
targeted advertising on platforms.
'You have children who are becoming addicted to social media, who
are growing up, and that leads to doomscrolling. So that kind of is
where we're at now with doomscrolling and then with TikTok becoming
hyper addictive,' she told Fox News Digital. 'That short form
content, the algorithm took these already pretty habituated people
who have been using social media pretty much their entire adult
lives and also most of their teenage lives and introduced them to
this. It's like a digital drug, essentially, if you are combining
purchasing seamlessly with the videos.'
She pointed out how similar economic situations such as the 2008
recession did not result in this kind of doom spending, with most
people usually saving money during that time.
She continued, 'It creates a situation where you're not even acting
in your own best interest. If you're addicted to scrolling, and
it's really easy to purchase and if you have lost your decision
fatigue, you are so tired that you just aren't capable of saying no
anymore and stopping yourself. You'll just click. You want instant
gratification. You'll just do it. And that's what these social
media addicts are doing. They're just clicking.'
For out-of-control spending, Yurkevich offered some tips on how to
handle difficult situations without resorting to impulsive
shopping, including getting off your phone and recognizing if
you're making purchases to simply fill an 'emotional void.'
'Re-evaluate your relationship with money,' Yurkevich said. 'Stop
engaging with all the bad news out there. If you need to be on your
phone, call a friend instead. And there are other ways to get this
dopamine hit that you might get through retail therapy. Exercise
classes, maybe hugging a dog or a cat … It is really important to
note if this is a one-off for people, or if this is something that
you‘re doing that will really impact your bottom line.'
