With influencers and social media constantly exposing teenagers to new advertisements, my generation is becoming increasingly money hungry. In a survey taken by Santander Bank Polska in 2023, six out of ten teenagers think they would feel happier if they had money and could buy more things. In addition, 66% of 12-15 year olds only want a job that pays a high salary and 45% of teens say that they like people who have nicer clothing choices more than people who don’t. For the teenagers at AISB, we can presume it’s quite similar. This article aims to explore what these attitudes are, where they may come from, as well as what they could mean in the future for teenagers growing up in such a wealth focused society.
Teenager’s Perceptions on Money at AISB
At AISB, money is deeply integrated in student’s daily lives and appearances. You may see someone wearing luxury brands, using the latest technology, or posting about their recent vacations on social media.
In a recent survey conducted by The Bite about teenagers’ relationships and perceptions on money, 20% of respondents associated money with happiness and an additional 60% said it depends.
For the 80% that either said yes or depends, there were a couple of reasons why they had this view on money. The most popular however, is comfort. Comfort is defined in various ways: independence from parents, financial security, nicer clothes, a good house in the future, and so on.
If I were to have a giant amount of money, I would 100% be happier.…No matter what anyone tries to convince others of, in the end, money buys happiness. Or, at the very least, money buys comfort.
Grade 9 student
This seems to be a popular opinion among most of the people who responded to the survey, and technically money can buy anything financially related and a lot of times a good financial situation can lead to more comfort. However, the line between someone’s income and actual happiness is becoming blurred in today’s society. Which may be why many teens think of money as a determinant for happiness.
A student from grade 11 agrees, and says that “Yes, in most cases. I think there is a clear connection between money and happiness. I’ve always thought that the statement ‘money doesn’t buy happiness’ was stupid. I think money does not exactly equate happiness, BUT i think money allows you to buy tools which bring you happiness. In that sense, money does equal happiness.”
Additionally, in the survey from The Bite, a grade 8 student who said that money equals happiness also would choose a high-paying job even if it meant less employee satisfaction, and wanted a salary of $95,000 or more. Similarly, their answers aligned with many other respondents in the survey.
This reflects that many teens feel as though to keep up their happiness they need to earn more. However, many completely disregarded the steps you have to take to get there. In Advisory, music teacher Courtney McDonald led a workshop with the 9th graders about jobs and careers.
McDonald says one of the topics that came up was the idea of how much money you could make from certain careers. She says there were “quite a few students who had the idea that you could just get a six-figure job without having any experience and just skip all the steps that most people do.”
Additionally she did a workshop with the grade 6s where they had to draw what their goals were in the future. Mcdonald says “A lot of the students put pictures of the penthouse that they want to own and the watches that they want, and the Birkin bags. There were a lot of material things.”
Currently, this all shows that teens’ perspectives on money seem to be very materialistic. They view it as a tool that’s easy to access, for a more comfortable lifestyle because with money you can buy independence, experience, and an overall financial security, which will then lead to more happiness in their lives. However comfort does not always equate to happiness and many teenagers do not acknowledge the work it takes to lead to a financially stable career.
The Factor Fueling Teen Spending and Wants
Why do teenagers care so much about money when they don’t need to? They’re not responsible for things like bills or taxes, they don’t need luxury brands to look good, and having the latest technology isn’t a necessity. Yet wanting to get jobs that make it possible to spend more, seems more common than ever among young people. So what’s driving it?
The truth is, there isn’t really a reason for why teenagers at AISB need more money to spend, because they don’t, but there is a reason for why many think they need more money, and that reason is social media and the influencers on there.
Influencers can make things seem more normal than they actually are. They can make expensive clothing hauls or frequent vacations seem like an expectation of good living, rather than an expensive luxury that only some can actually afford.
Influencers also shape everything in peoples’ lives, from behaviours, to humor, and even to spending habits. For example, if an influencer says that this product is good for their skin, a lot of teens who follow them are now more likely to buy that product. So teens can get a lot of their desire for more money from the influence that social media gives them on the topic.
The main way that social media spreads this influence is through influencers. Influencers show off the latest trends, like clothing, tech, and lifestyle, and this constant exposure to their advertisements creates a link between their content and consumerism.
Teens, seeking validation and belonging, may be enticed to purchase products endorsed by their favorite stars, often without considering their actual needs or budgetary constraints.
Investor’s Cabin
Teens want to stay informed and up to speed because social validation can be a huge influence in their lives. During teenage years, personal identities are still developing, so oftentimes teens will rely on validation to help to form their identity, because it confirms that they’re on the right track to becoming someone that people will like.
Companies take advantage of this, endorsing influencers or their favorite celebrities to expose their products to teens. Therefore, social media ties into their sense of social validation, increasing their ‘need’ to fit in, or the bandwagon effect, by buying more things.
In the survey conducted by The Bite, almost all people who said that they followed multiple influencers, also stated that they had bought something from social media at least once, if not more.
With more and more people buying different products because of social media, this increases teenagers ‘fear of missing out’ or FOMO.
Constantly exposing themselves to social media trends can lead to a sense of urgency, as a lot of trends disappear in a matter of months. This urgency can then cause impulsive buying, from teens striving to fit in with their peers, because if they miss the trend or aren’t trendy anymore they won’t get the validation that they may crave.
Furthermore, this can then cause an increase in financial peer pressure. According to the website, TalkLife.com, “Financial peer pressure is when friends, colleagues, or family members influence an individual’s financial choices and actions. It happens when people feel the need to keep up with their peers’ spending habits and lifestyle choices, even if it stretches their financial limits”.
Feeling pressured to buy more things can often lead to overspending on things that aren’t even needed. This can make it harder to discern between needs and wants, which is one of the many possible effects of FOMO.
Teenage years are the most influential years of people’s lives, where future habits and behaviours are shaped. If bad habits like overspending on things you don’t need, become common in teenage years, this can then lead to some really negative long term consequences in adult years, like debt.
Unseen Impacts
Unfortunately, there are a lot of long term impacts that many teenagers don’t know about or don’t take into consideration when making financial decisions. These impacts can take a serious toll on future lifestyles.
Senior savings strategist Dax Harkins says that if teens “build up debt from overspending when they are young they will have nothing left to put away in savings in the future.” For teen’s at AISB, many don’t have jobs, but this does apply to spending habits, as in if teens start bad spending habits young, it can lead to bad ones in the future as well.
Additionally, according to an article on AIA, the pressure to always fit in by using money, or by gaining more money, can cause a multitude of mental health problems, especially for teenagers. These include senses of failure or doubt, decreased satisfaction, loss of motivation, detachment, and an overall feeling of helplessness.
In general, it’s not necessarily bad to want jobs to get money, and it’s definitely okay to want to spend some money as well, but not for the wrong reasons. Money can give you comfort, but it’s not everything.
Oftentimes only being happy because of what money gives you, isn’t as fulfilling as being happy because of other things, like the love you get from your parents, or the memories you create with your friends.
Learning to balance your needs and your wants is a valuable skill that many of us are still navigating. And that’s okay for a teenager, you don’t need to have everything figured out. That being said, it’s worth talking about, because it helps us grow.