Why is ‘doomspending’ on the rise? | Sean Monahan
Article excerpt
As Americans grapple with economic anxiety and political uncertainty, a new spending behavior dubbed 'doomspending' is gaining traction, consumers splurging on purchases despite financial instability, operating under the assumption that tomorrow may never come. The trend reflects a broader cultural zeitgeist of doom, from doomscrolling to doomspreading, that has permeated discourse. Sean Monahan explores whether this paradoxical spending pattern signals genuine economic crisis or reveals deeper anxieties about the future shaping consumer behavior in unpredictable times.
If everyone is spending like there won’t be a tomorrow, there probably won’t be a tomorrow
People in the US: tell us about your difficult consumer experiences
Doom is the prefix du jour. Doomscrolling, doomposting, doomsplaining, doomspreading. Doom joins other recent suffixes -maxxing, -pilled, and -slop, giving discussions about contemporary life an overtly negative cast. Doomspending, in particular, is a new term for spending frivolously with no concern for future financial consequences. It has become synonymous with the declining fortunes of young westerners.
A survey by Credit Karma, a consumer fintech company, published in the fall of 2024, introduced the concept and the general parameters around it. Chronically online youth had begun coping with anxiety about the economy and world events with retail therapy. They claim 27% of Americans doomspend to deal with stress. The numbers rise to 37% of gen Z and 39% of millennials.
Continue reading...