The wallet of the negative generation lives the life of the second generation of the rich? Don't let advanced consumption "consume" yourself

Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph

Recently, an institution released the "Contemporary Youth Consumption Report" saying that only 13.4% of the 175 million "post-90s" in the country have no debt, and 86.6% have contacted credit products. The report pointed out that more than 60% of the "post-90s" use consumer loans to improve the quality of life and leisure. According to other data, in 2020, China's luxury consumption "rose against the trend", one of the reasons is the rise of a new generation of consumers, and from January to October last year, the "post-95" consumption of luxury co-branded and limited editions surged by 300% to 400%. Some netizens said that some young people seem to use the wallet of the "negative generation" to live a "rich second generation" life.

There are certain objective reasons for this phenomenon, and the all-pervasive advertising with the help of mobile phones is one of them. Nowadays, as long as young people log on to social platforms, all kinds of "Amway soft text" and "planting videos" are invincible: brushing short videos after work, unable to escape the live broadcast recommended by the algorithm; going home to order a takeaway, the software invites you to come and say that you will go on a trip; even selfie retouching pictures, it is difficult to escape a variety of beauty advertisements...

Even if you can avoid advertising, you may fall into the "consumption routine" of merchants. Nowadays, whether it is a traditional festival or a "foreign festival", it seems that it has finally become a shopping carnival. Open the shopping software, I don't know when I was stuffed with a "full 100 yuan minus 10 yuan" coupon, so I walked around for two more hours, and unconsciously stuffed the shopping cart. "Official subsidies", "Inviting friends to bargain", "Last day of promotion"... A set of combination punches down by merchants, and it is more difficult for consumers to "hold on". This just confirms a sentence: consumer desire is "fed" by merchants.

The impact of peer pressure brought about by the Internet cannot be underestimated. The Internet has broadened the horizons of the younger generation, but while the "circle of friends" is expanding, the "comparison circle" is inevitably expanding - girls do not use cosmetics such as "fairy water" or "small brown bottles", and some people will ridicule "your peers are abandoning you"; chasing popular TV series but not buying the same bag for the first time will be despised by friends who "spend money to chase stars"... As a result, the consumption upgrade speed of some young people has repeatedly surpassed the progress of earning power, and debt is inevitable.

It is estimated that in 2021, young consumers under the age of 35 will create 65% consumption growth, which is a well-deserved main force of consumption. Objectively speaking, more diversified, more abundant, and more upscale consumer goods have entered the public life, "a jump can be done", and no longer "dare not think, have nothing to do with me", which is essentially the embodiment of social progress. However, for individuals, the times give young people wealth, and it is more necessary for young people to learn to control wealth and use wealth rationally. Some young people weave their lives into gorgeous robes, but they are embellished with debt - a variety of lending platforms, a variety of forms of installments, so that many young people in the illusion of small and low-frequency consumption lose their vigilance, into a frog in warm water. It is no wonder that there are "monthly owers" who have returned to God: the advertisements of various lending platforms and e-commerce platforms are like "enlightening" themselves, "spending tomorrow's money to realize today's dreams, spending other people's money to realize their own dreams."

Under the "gorgeous robe", if it is a hollowed-out financial situation, then this brilliance is bound to be unsustainable. Only by following a controllable and affordable consumption behavior can we truly enjoy consumption without letting consumption "consume" itself.