Are we living 'fake rich' lives for the feed?
Every week, PhilSTAR L!fe explores issues and topics from the perspectives of different age groups, encouraging healthy but meaningful conversations on why they matter. This is Generations by our Gen Z columnist Angel Martinez.
There's a running joke online that by the time someone reaches 25, they have to choose one of three things: either travel to Japan, run a marathon, or take their master's abroad.
It’s funny, yes, and true to a certain extent—I’ve witnessed it among my own social circles, and even felt the slightest pressure to pick a path for myself. But at the risk of taking a punchline too far, achieving such monumental life milestones at an early age now looks like a prerequisite, regardless of how much we actually make.
Though I am all for reaping the rewards of our hard work, I fear that our short-sightedness could lead to "fake rich" lifestyles filled with financial flexing. Similar cases include weekly visits to expensive restaurants, regular upgrades to the latest gadgets, or luxurious house parties with the girls despite living paycheck to paycheck. In the end, we may fail to accumulate substantial savings or achieve financial stability.
This is because even the mere act of shopping for non-essential items is a status symbol in itself. Marketing consultant JB Bolaños tells PhilSTAR L!fe that “any activity that would require extra time, resources, and disposable income is indicative of one's status. It’s a persistent phenomenon anywhere social strata exist.”
It’s no surprise, then, that Gen Z has thought of several ways to exist beyond their means. We made up 33% of new credit card holders in 2023, while 61% of us who are familiar with Buy Now, Pay Later schemes have made at least one transaction back in 2024. On the other side of the world, more than half of our generation has admitted to lying or exaggerating their financial success on the internet—a shocking testament to how intensely our standards have been warped.
As mental health counselor and financial therapist Aja Evans tells USA Today, “people will push themselves past their own financial boundaries to spend more to make sure that they’re looking a certain way online, because it appears as if everybody is looking that same way.” True enough, we often see people broadcast impulsive splurges or spontaneous nights out, and not the meals they skipped or the parties they had to bail on.
I’ve observed that our virtual performance is also rooted in the expectation to exist as personal brands instead of people. Remember how we cosplayed as those who come from "old money," or watched tutorials to exude an aura of "quiet luxury"? We’ve labeled ourselves as everything from clean to coquette, each title with a starkly different visual aesthetic.
Our identities are routinely repacked, optimized, and subjected to the scrutiny of a largely invisible audience. Who we are is not only what we think or do or associate ourselves with—it’s very much what we buy, too. We’d like to believe we are wiser than this, but in the heat of the moment, others’ current appraisal of who we are can sometimes hold more weight than saving up for a faraway future.
So while Bolaños advises learning our limits and exercising self-control, he admits that sometimes, these things can only be learned over time. At present, Gen Z lacks in the financial literacy department. According to a 2025 financial resilience index, we prioritize short-term rewards over future planning, and have a limited understanding of concepts such as interest, minimum payments, and debt. “I’ve seen that once people move on to the next phase of their lives, they will learn to redefine shopping vis-à-vis how much money they have for spending, and what their new priorities are,” he shares with L!fe.
Personally, slowing down has worked wonders for me. I’ve found that I tend to treat myself as a hasty response to stress or a mindless reaction to a sponsored post or ad. I am, indeed, another cog in the capitalist machine. Mentally checking in with myself before checking out has helped me filter out which items are actual necessities. What need of mine does this fulfill? If I couldn’t post about this, would I still buy it? Does this represent who I am and what I truly want, or how I wish to present myself?
From there, we may realize that adulthood isn’t actually an endless highlight reel; that our social media bubbles trick us into thinking everyone is further ahead than they actually are. Many of us bring baon to the office during petsa de peligro, invite friends over instead of going out, or worry about paying monthly bills on time. Real life doesn’t have to be documented, edited, and uploaded, after all—it just has to be experienced.
Generations by Angel Martinez appears weekly at PhilSTAR L!fe.
