Overexposure to influential peers via social media has corrupted the median perspective.

What young people perceive as the average experience is far from it, and because social media aggregates around extremes, people aspire for more than what would otherwise be reasonable. https://twitter.com/financepapi_/status/1310485347487420416

In times past the only people you could compare yourself to were others in your neighbourhood, town or village, who largely grew up in similar circumstances.

Young people are now exposed to a crazy variety of lifestyles across social spheres and continents.

Democratised Internet fame means that it’s no longer enough to be the popular kid at your school - you need to be the popular kid on Instagram, and an algorithm that skews towards those w/ luxury lifestyles means you must have (or pretend to have) a similar experience to be cool.

This extends far beyond Instagram and is the reason why teens suffer with body dysmorphia and young adults struggle with social pressures of home ownership and financial independence.

Social media renders the true median invisible. The ordinary are obsolete because eyes + algorithms are drawn to the extraordinary.

We are driven to compete with the hyper-visible because the prevailing content we consume teaches us that those are valid norms/ideals.

Now add to that the accessibility of credit, luxury goods and cosmetic surgery, and it’s no wonder young people are depressed, disillusioned and drowning in debt.

AND, the more people succumb to the social pressure of illusory norms, the more the skewed median becomes reality.

I actually think it’s unfair and slightly dishonest to paint the young as the architects of this situation. They’re the first generation to grow up with the Internet - it’s a situation unique to them.

What we can do is educate them on how to avoid the pitfalls of navigating it.