08 Nov How FOMO And The Kardashians Are Destroying Us Financially

Fear. Of. Missing. Out. Also affectionately known by this anxiety-riddled world as FOMO. A lot of people call this BS or think its just another catchy 4-letter acronym like PHAT or THOT. Every generation has a few but this one is giving us real problems. When WebMD feels the need to write about it, I think we can say it’s worth taking a bit more seriously than just at face value.

So what exactly does FOMO look like in the real world and how does it affect us financially? This term became popular with the rise of social media. Ironically, as people become more isolated than connected the more they use social media (here’s the link to a boring Psychology article if you don’t believe me), there is still the urge to be popular, social, or feel connected somehow. Seeing your friends…or friends-of-friends…or friends-of-that-girl-you-met-once-at-a-party-and-she-added-you go out shopping or traveling can really make us feel like we are losers as we sit in our room and scroll mindlessly down our feeds.

Daaang, Sally just got the new Apple Watch! Johnny is going to the Bahamas for a weeklong vacation…ugh, lucky. What is this?! My mom just got a mani-pedi and is #livinglifetothefullest? I just called and asked if she wanted to get lunch two hours ago and she said she couldn’t because she had some important stuff to do! So how do all of these things effect us financially? Because where there is emotion, there is someone trying to sell something.

Enter the creation of social media star word of mouthers…we tend to call them “influencers” which is extremely appropriate and much simpler. One thing all marketers and sales people know is that there has never been and never will be a better way to get someone to buy something than word-of-mouth advertising. When people hear a recommendation from someone they TRUST, they tend to buy it. No online ad, brochure, or mailer has ever converted more sales than good ole fashioned WOM. Fun fact that might be true…word-of-mouth advertising has been around since the neanderthals shared info on which tribe traded the best mammoth tibulas which were great for smashing sabertooth tiger’s heads in.

When social media allowed our friend groups to expand to unprecendented levels, some smart people in big ivory towers took notice. At first, it started off naturally and innocently. We saw a friend take a few pictures with their new outfit on and we went out and bought the same thing at the store. Deciding where to vacation got easier as friends posted cool videos of their hotels and the turquoise waters outside their 4-star hotel in Mexico. As these things led to higher sales, the marketing machines caught on and then things really got out of hand and gyms were never the same.

(This meme goes out to every guy/girl taking selfies at the gym while taking up the machines and equipment)

So I can’t go any further without mentioning someone. The Queen Influencer. This will probably/hopefully be the last time I ever mention a Kardashian/Jenner on this blog, but Kylie Jenner must be discussed. When she sent a tweet that was less than 140 characters asking why no one checks their Snaps anymore, Snapchat’s valuation went down ONE BILLION DOLLARS the next day ($1.3 billion to be exact). Next to our current President, no one has ever had a more expensive tweet (though Elon Musk came close a few times and the direct effects of some of Trump’s tweets are hard to measure). When Kylie Jenner posts a product on her Instagram, her going rate for that picture is about $1,000,000. Why so much?

Because. It. Works.

Kylie has over 118,000,000 followers on Instagram alone! In case you aren’t paying attention, that’s about 30% of the US population (granted her reach is global). To run an 30-second ad during the Super Bowl will cost you around $3,000,000 and that will reach less than half of what a Kylie Instagram post could get a marketer. On top of that, her followers are more loyal to her than the average Super Bowl watcher is to Doritos or Bud Light. So not only do brands pay Kylie and thousands of other influencers in order to get their products in front of you, but they make it really easy to buy the product as well! Direct links to Instagram checkouts or Amazon one-click buttons with 2-day Prime shipping make it so easy we don’t even think about the money leaving our virtual wallets.

But Stephen, are that many people really falling for this? Why yes…yes, they are. Here’s some numbers.

• 57% of millennials polled said they have bought something they didn’t mean to buy after seeing it on their social media feeds
• 40% admitted they didn’t have enough money to buy it and put it on credit cards
• 63% of millennials and Gen Z’s think that social media has a negative effect on them (atleast we are somewhat self aware)
• 66% of millennials said saving money for their future was just as gratifying as treating themselves today

It’s bad enough trying to keep up with our friends especially when its only the good parts of their lives. But to compare that to someone who is a celebrity with unlimited resources and has free trips and products thrown at them is just being unfair to ourselves and setting us up to view our life with a negative perspective.

So what can you do about FOMO and spending money you didn’t mean to spend? Here’s a couple inconvenient but handy tips that work well for me.

1. Stop making your credit card autofill. Google, Amazon, Facebook and anyone doing online retail want you to save your card info for convenience. The only convenience is how much more of your money they will process. The mere inconvenience of getting off the couch to find your wallet and input your credit card will make you think more than twice about whether or not you want that protein mixer.
2. Stop following profiles where you buy unnecessary items. Look, advertising and influencers aren’t the problem and if you follow someone that sells products you legitimately need or use, then that’s different. But if you can’t stop buying tiny bobbleheads with celebrity heads on them or whatever your kryptonite is, then its time to unfollow that product/person.
3. Right before you click to buy something, exit the page/app immediately. Count to 5. Ask yourself if its a ‘need-to-have’ or a ‘want-to-have’. If you really need/want it, you’ll go back and get it.
4. Purge your dwelling of “stuff”. Clean out the rooms, corners of your closet and anywhere else you may store pointless items that go unused. Pile it up and try to remember how much it all cost you before discarding or reselling it. Being honest with yourself and facing the reality of your habits is a big first step to making money smart decisions.