How Gen Z Became The 'Buy Everything, Own Nothing' Generation

In our February video essay, Chelsea dives into the unique economic situation Gen Z is facing in adolescence to early adulthood: one that encourages mindless overconsumption while making traditional financial milestones more out of reach than ever before.

Special thanks to:
Dot Sawler, PhD candidate at the University of Rochester

SOURCE LINKS:

00:00:00 Welcome!
00:00:55 Intro
00:03:36 Ad break
00:08:11 The facade of wealth without the finances
00:17:40 The instant gratification generation
00:26:38 Real-time retail
00:34:45 The scourge of “spending on experiences”
00:45:08 The buy now, pay later phenomenon
00:51:18 TikTok as the new QVC
00:57:09 Conclusion

[NancyLebovitz]

I'm shocked at seeing "make four interest-free payments" for $50 items. It seems to me that if you can't buy the item for $50, you're running awfully close to the edge.

[hellmagex]

Gen Z struggles with instant gratification because they have so little access to any long term form of gratification

[elizabethhiltsfilm]

“Gen Z drinking habits are killing concerts” what about, arena alcohol prices are killing concerts. I am not paying 15 dollars for a cooler that would be 3 dollar from the store (true story. Thank you Budweiser stage)

[kathrinlindern]

Quick note: The attention span quote is a myth - the study was done by marketing people trying to figure out how long humans would pay attention to *an ad* before deciding it is irrelevant. It's not the general attention span.

[namenamenamename]

My heart breaks for Gen Zers who have done nothing wrong to inherit an absolutely unhinged housing market and healthcare prices as well as an awful job market.

[crystalcarrette]

I’m mostly a thrift shopper and it’s crazy how much Shein clothes are donated without ever being worn. They look nice enough on the hanger but the fit is always terrible.

[KaraMarisa]

Gen Z is coming into adulthood with such high rental expenses, it's actually criminal rates out here.

[mariapastorelli]

The irony of getting 5+ ads during this video trying to make me buy random stuff I don’t need 🤣

[rizza_]

People buy from Shein knowing that it's cheap and horrible quality because stores in the US sell clothes that are expensive and... also the horrible quality.

[lancelobato]

social media trends turned the "experience spending" into the "FOMO spending". and this is terrible.

[Sophmorical]

Seeing that bikini haul really made me realize how much has changed in 20 years. I remember going shopping for a new swim suit every summer, as in one new swim suit worn for the year. I didn’t have a collection of bikinis, I had one as did most of my middle class friends. It would have never occurred to me that I needed to own multiple bikinis.

[anjumsings]

I'm working towards a masters in social work right now, and last semester I took a human rights class. During a end of semester casual chat in the class, Shein came up, but *favorably*. People were talking about rising costs and "how is x so expensive when we can get a shirt for $8?" And I was like "hahaha, talk about human rights abuses", trying to hint that Shein is the problem in this scenario, but the people involved--including the teacher, mind you--clearly didn't get my comment. I was really shocked that even social workers and social workers-to-be had their finger so far off the pulse

[milikoshki]

"intergenerational fighting is deeply un-chic"
Could not agree more. The NYTimes loves to lean into the generational divide bs, and reading the comments is always incredible. I never understood how one's generation could feel like an identity but some people go really hard on that front.

[iliketoknit]

I am an older gen z. I graduated college at the end of 2020 and got married 1 month later in 2021. Im afraid to tell my older family members for fear they’ll say I’m whining. But honestly, I feel like I was robbed of two very big moments in a persons life. My life was set up so perfectly as I was about to graduate college, but then the rug was pulled out from under myself and all my friends. It’s been 4 years and some old classmates with high GPAs are still struggling to find a job related to their degree.

[ErikaRachel]

Although this situation seems bleak, I’d beg people to remember that most of us make some big mistakes in our 20s. Take heart in the fact that by our 30s most of us have learned from said mistakes, and course corrected. The probability of ad fatigue is high, and most of these heavy shoppers will grow up to prioritize other things.

[dweebcentric]

The montage of “buy these” Tik Tok clips is more indicative of things young people do to make a living. They’re affiliate marketers unfortunately pedaling cheap junk. It says a lot about the economy, and maybe labor (job skills, etc.) and what that means for that generation’s future.

[jcg]

I'm only 3 years older than chelsea and recorded songs off the radio. You liked a song and listened until it came on, then pressed record as quickly as possible!

[jessicabeshears]

I really felt the loneliness and isolation, and then I got off social media/forums for good. Despite not really changing any other habits besides just texting my friends instead of messaging over the apps, those feelings vanished within a day or two. Fear of missing out with the doomscroll is what's actually making us miss out

[rrenatabp]

Haven't got through the whole video but what Sawler is saying about gen z's being primed to inherit this great economy in their teen years and then watching all of that crumble as they became adults is very much what brazilian millenials went through in the 2014-2016 era, which the country still hasn't recovered from. I remember chatting with a friend in 2016 when we were about to graduate from university and her words to me were literally "can't belive that when it's our time to go out into the world everything is turning to shit". It definitely is an awful feeling

[thatjillgirl]

"Spend money on experiences, not things" only helps if MONEY! You can't just be paying for things with debt again and again and again. I put a lot of blame on social media influencers who have made constant spending seem like it's a normal thing to do. It's not.