This is a subject that has both an obvious and less obvious psychological impact on us over time.
Below we have a bread & butter example of an Instagram wealth scarcity post:
Translation: I am rich, you are not. This is what I have and here is my carbon fibre money clip that only rich people need because it is holding my wads of money. Buy it here and you too can be like me too. Also buy my branded hat.
Let’s do the easy bit first, breaking down the images credibility.
Looking at the items on display we can assume a price tag of about $50-60,000 for the watch and around $50,000 in cash.
True value : $100,000+ in items (not including the car)
Can We Fake This?
So off we go to surf the interwebs of joy and see if we to can recreate this image without actually purchasing the proposed goods for their true value.
Instashame
Would you look at what we found with a few minutes of googling!
Lets summarise:
Real Value : $100,000+
Fake Value : $180 ish
Tadaaa we can be Wealth Influencers too!
Instaproblem
This sort of thing is obvious when it is pointed out but how many of these images are put in front of us daily that we don’t spot..? Every fake post is internalised by our psyche. Your subconscious is a sponge and reacts to pattern recognition and stimulation. We get a rush at seeing this wealth and a crash when we remember that it’s not ours. Our attention is a dopamine chasing blind monkey that just wants to smash the Fun and Happy button because it feels great.
So What?
Let us introduce you to the dopamine mice.
Lüscher and his team have been studying addiction using mice. In one of his experiments, the mice have a lever that they can press any time they want. When they press the button, a special optical sensor, which controls specific neurons in their brain, activates their dopamine neurons.
The mice quickly start to show the tell tale signs of addictive behaviour as they happily keep pressing the lever to receive more and more dopamine. Sounds a bit like that scrolling joy machine that you get out of your pocket every 7 seconds eh?
“If after two hours we didn’t take them out of the cage, they wouldn’t eat, they wouldn’t drink, then they’d probably die quickly, but very happily,” says Lüscher, speaking during the conference.
So Who Cares About Mice In A Silly Experiment
Sadly this is all applicable to humans as we have the same dopamine chemical style reward system. The difference in the modern world is that technology has enabled the dopamine hammer hit easily and frequently with literally no friction. Nature had provided a balance for us (Hard work/friction on the hunt → Dinner) but technology has taken much of the survival grind out of our lives.
We have broken that natural link and we are going to pay the consequences over time. It is already happening: 👇🏼
Summary
We could get very technical and lead this all back into a long summary highlighting the affects of constant stimulus and marketing of products on social media along with highlighting how multiple visual touch points will literally influence your behaviour over time…. but we can’t be arsed.
As individuals we must find the right balance of Friction and Reward to stay sane and healthy.
“Anything that comes easy may not be worth it ” Shampa Sharma
Till next time
The Wealth Gap Team