I think a major factor in popularizing Robinhood and introducing and exacerbating the gambling degeneracy are places like wallstreetbets and corners of twitter

I think a major factor in popularizing Robinhood and introducing and exacerbating the gambling degeneracy are places like wallstreetbets and corners of twitter and discord where you're constantly exposed to screenshots of heavy losses and gains. You look at the 20-100k and beyond returns these crazy people get and you rationalize you can do it too. Soon you find yourself in a community that helps you (in their own way) deal with your losses while promoting the next play. It also doesn't help that being in a bubble, the adage "stonks only go up" has been true since the March crash and meme stocks outperform and achieve extreme valuations against all conventional wisdom. Robinhood is the shovel-seller that has undercut the other players with lower prices and lower barrier to entry and better UI. The Fed is the one pumping this asset bubble that keeps the narrative going: stocks only go up and fundamentals don't matter.