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This is why your idea of wealth might be a lie - and social media is to blame
This is why your idea of wealth might be a lie - and social media is to blame
Social media has always been a hub of over-indulgence; from perfectly-curated feeds, to showing off your latest purchases - which were likely also made as a result of being influenced by someone else online.
However, as well as making us clamour for 'likes' and 'followers', social media is the birthplace of comparison culture, and there's now growing concern that it's distorting our bigger-picture view of money, and in turn, diminishing our attitudes towards our own achievements in life.
The rise of 'Richfluencers' has been prominent in the last couple of years - think Birkins, private jets, summers spent on the sands of Mykonos, and a seemingly unlimited budget all seem commonplace when we open social media.
But in reality, those who appear to 'have it all' represent one per cent of the world's population, and we're merely sucked in because frankly, we never would have crossed paths with these people otherwise.
What's more, thanks to our love of scrolling, our brains are now nothing short of warped when it comes to what expensive really means.
Back in 2016, the must-have items that built cult-like viral followings included Kylie Jenner's debut Kylie Lip Kits, coming in at $29. Now? If it's not a $500 LED light mask, it's a $1,700 Goyard bag - and it feels like everyone has access to them, and the bar of exclusivity is only getting higher.
One TikToker, known as @Yas.jd, spoke about the pressure to be a big spender to fit in with online norms: "Everybody is kikiing [sic] over the £500 Coach bag", she told followers, referring to the sell-out Tabby shoulder bag, which boomed in popularity thanks to social media, before adding: "£500 is still a significant purchase for 99 per cent of people...do not even play yourself."
"I'm so sick of seeing people comparing their realities to people who live on completely different financial planets", she noted.
"We really need to reset what 'normal' looks like for most people."
And she's right, we really are living in a time where people are willing to live beyond their means in order to keep up with what they believe wealth looks like - with over 60 per cent of Coachella's 2025 tickets bought using 'buy now, pay later' schemes - something Instagram would never tell you amid the flower crowns and villa parties.
What's more, Coach themselves recorded 900,000 new customers in North America in Q1 of 2025 - and they were Gen Zers and millennials undoubtedly spurred on by social media.
Despite overconsumption at an all-time high and 32 per cent of people feeling pressure to live beyond their means, the annual household incomes in the UK and US are £55,200, and $80,610 respectively. After mortgages, bills, and spending time with loved ones, it leaves little wiggle-room for showing off your private jet on Instagram.
One brand more heavily involved than most in social media's luxury scene is pre-loved bag resellers, Love Luxury, who have amassed over four million followers on the platform selling the idea of the elite lifestyle to the masses, now boasting stores in both London and Dubai.
On their page, there are countless re-enacted customer interaction videos, which show consumers nonchalantly spending sometimes upwards of £25,000 on a handbag as though it's merely an essential from the grocery store.
"For us, luxury isn’t just about price tags — it’s about craftsmanship, heritage, and the emotional connection a person has with a piece. Yes, we deal in Birkins and Bentleys, but we also celebrate the individual stories behind each item — whether it’s someone saving up to buy their first Louis Vuitton wallet or investing in a Rolex as a milestone marker", Adam Abraham, co-founder of Love Luxury tells Indy100.
TikTok
"In the time we’ve been creating content, we’ve definitely seen a shift in perception. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have blurred the lines between aspiration and excess.
"When £500 purchases are downplayed as 'entry-level,' it can understandably make people feel like their achievements are invalid unless they’re spending five figures. It’s sadly very unhealthy and unrealistic."
He continues: "TikTok can give us an undeniably fascinating insight into the lives of the rich and famous but it’s important for people to realise that it's not a realistic view to have on the world, and comparing your own life to those shown on social media is often like comparing your life to a Hollywood movie, it’s not real life!
"As business owners and content creators, we believe it’s our job to show what’s possible without being tone-deaf. It’s a fine balance: inspiring people without creating a sense of lack.
"As for ‘RichTok’, if we’re honest, a lot of it is heavily curated and not representative of reality. There are people online borrowing cars, staging fake private jet photos, or presenting a lifestyle that’s financed on credit or completely manufactured. We’ve seen the behind-the-scenes, and not everything glitters."
Marketing expert and CEO of Monumental Marketing, Jamie Love, echoes similar thoughts, adding: "‘RichTok’ is often performance dressed up as lifestyle. Behind many of these videos is a mix of borrowed wealth, staged aesthetics, PR invites and smoke-and-mirrors financing.
"Flashing luxury – whether it’s a £10k handbag or a first-class flight – instantly delivers that dopamine hit and cuts through the noise. There’s also a layer of exclusivity baked in: not everyone can create this type of content, and that scarcity makes it more likely to go viral.
"It’s a flex by design. And none of this happened in a vacuum – we grew up in a culture shaped by the Kardashians and aspirational reality TV. That decade-long glorification of wealth and excess laid the foundation. ‘RichTok’ is just the next evolution – but now it’s faster, flashier, and more algorithmically rewarded."
It's not just happening online either - a study by The Manifest found that 67 per cent of millennials experience FOMO related to social media, and according to Adlucent, 60 per cent of people have let it impact their purchasing decisions.
"While social media creates global connectedness, sharing life events, and dating ease; it also can create lower self-esteem, obsessive social stalking, and what I call 'Vanity Validation'. The shiniest object is what we stop at, then move on to the next shiny object", says behavioural scientist, Clarissa Silva.
Pexels
"Your lauded self on social media is constantly seeking more validation through electronic likes, not life experiences. This creates an obsession on the need to feel validated which can result in discounting yourself by presenting a false narrative that can be unattainable if you’re not focused on building your own wealth."
On how to reverse the impact of having online fatigue as a result of what we're seeing, she adds: "Set limits to the amount of time you spend on social media to optimally 30 minutes per day. We are increasingly overstimulated and don’t detox our brains enough. Try to device detox for 30 minutes per day to help prevent cognitive overstimulation.
"Be aware of vanity validation when interacting with others online. Keep in mind that most of the time we are meeting an idealized version of the person or an inflated persona. Take time to meet their true self.
"There are a few neurochemical processes that are fueling your need to seek vanity validation. Dopamine is attracted to drama and adrenaline is what makes you obsess over being validated. It just occupies unnecessary space in your brain."
Let's be clear, aspirations are good so long as they're healthy - and whether it's a $100,000 car, or a $10 trinket, it's about time we reclaimed celebrating the milestones that surround them in equal measure.
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