More and more people are increasingly concerned about monetary issues, resulting in finance becoming one of the main topic of daily conversations. Their money-related discussions usually range from talking about monthly income to complaining about increasing expenditure. I personally think that this trend can be directly attributed to two major factors: the normalization of this topic on social media and inflation in contrast to stability in salaries. This shift in societies can be considered negative, in my opinion.
The main reason why individuals are more inclined than ever to debate financial matters is that the prevalence of conversations about money is being normalized on many social networking platforms. In this normalization process, celebrities, particularly singers, actors, influencers and sportspeople, are playing an incomparably huge role by equating wealth with ultimate success and social status. Andrew Tate, who is a globally well-known influencer and a self-proclaimed former kickboxing champion, can be a case in point. He mostly releases videos, promoting the fact that obtaining wealth is an indicator of success. Consequently, his followers tend to be preoccupied with getting rich, leading them to mostly discuss the ways to affluence.
Another factor is the global inflation and growing expenditure as opposed to the relative stability of salaries. I have recently read an article about finance, clearly showing inflation figures in developed regions, such as the US and the European Union. In addition to this, the cost of living is also growing at a more rapid pace than the growth in income is. This financially disproportionate change naturally tends to force people involved to worry and talk about their fiscal health.
The ubiquity of money-related conversations in daily life is a negative trend, in my opinion. This is because this will probably lead to an increase in materialism. As members of a materialistic society have a strong tendency to be ego-centric and measure everything with money, a number of problems may arise as as result. In the nation where financial concerns take precedence over humanitarian priorities, social unity and the sense of community will absolutely fade away. People will start prioritizing financial features when choosing a spouse rather than taking into account other more important characteristics, namely loyalty, tolerance, sympathy and empathy. This will eventually result in increases in the divorce rate.
In conclusion, the commodification of daily life can be attributable to social media influence and inflation of currencies, not to mention the increasing living costs. However, I believe people should not be as concerned about finance as they are now due to the risk of the spread of egoism and disunity, negative changes in social norms.