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Semi-random thought about the article on middle class people who can not afford a $400 emergency a few days ago[0], media creates remarkably unrealistic expecta
by yk 11y ago
Semi-random thought about the article on middle class people who can not afford a $400 emergency a few days ago[0], media creates remarkably unrealistic expectations. In that article someone estimated that one needs $100k - $150k for a middle class live. Or rather for the expectations of a middle class live.
An example is people tweeting food, if you follow thirteen people who post pictures of their lunch, then you will only have a comparatively good lunch once every two weeks. (And that is only if you don't follow people whose job is to post amazing food.) Similar, TV is full of people who complain about being poor sitting in an apartment with Hudson river view. ( It does not help, that the apartment looks like it was designed by an $5000/hr interior designer, because the director wanted it to look good and hired an $5000/hr interior designer.)
Basically this is a variant of Charlie Stross's idea, that news acts as a depressant, because that is the kind of news that sells. ( And is usually a lot easier to write.) Old-media is full of the kind of middle class existence that is at three times the median income, while social media means that the expectation is to keep up on average with the maximum of your peers (because only the best is posted).
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11527523 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11527523
[1] http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/04/psa-ignore-the-news.html http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/04/psa-igno...
- omegaham 11y ago> An example is people tweeting food, if you follow thirteen people who post pictures of their lunch, then you will only have a comparatively good lunch once every two weeks. This is a great example, and it applies to everything. Looking at stoves? Your buddy just got a top-of-the-line range. Looking at lawnmowers? Another buddy of yours got a $3,000 riding mower. Looking at cars? Another friend just bought a BMW. As a result, you get the extremely powerful feeling that you should own all of these while in reality, your friends splurged on one thing. I set up a home gym a few weeks ago. Just like everyone else, I happily posted it on Facebook and contributed to the problem. The thing is, I don't really do anything else; I'm too goddamn busy to go out, to go on vacation, to buy a boat or fifth-wheel or anything like that. I saved up for two years to buy it, too. But that's not the message that gets posted on my Facebook wall right alongside the fantastic vacation that someone else took, the $200 that another person spent at a fancy restaurant, the new car that the next person bought... Facebook and the media make everyone compare their daily life to everyone's highlight reel. And that's really, really dangerous.
- ArkyBeagle 11y agoI think a major part of happiness is overcoming the basic drive humans have towards mimetic desire - if one six month old grabs the toy fire truck, the other one will instantly want it. Not only are you less consumed with it, it frees up money for what you can do to actually improve your lot in life.