Current:Home > MarketsGen Z is 'doom spending' its way through the holidays. What does that mean? -MarketLink
Gen Z is 'doom spending' its way through the holidays. What does that mean?
View
Date:2025-04-15 05:15:10
You’ve heard of doomscrolling, now get ready for doom spending.
A new report published by consulting firm Simon-Kucher found a dramatic increase in year-over-year holiday spending by Generation Z, or people born between 1997 and 2012. The study dubs this trend of young consumers spending more than they can afford to experience short-term gratification “doom spending.”
Doom spending is essentially an offshoot of doomscrolling the study says, explaining that members of Gen Z are most likely to purchase things as a coping mechanism because they feel pessimistic about the future after spending excessive time scrolling through negative online content.
“I didn't coin the term, but I found it very interesting,” said Shikha Jain, a Simon-Kucher partner who worked on the report.
She said doom spending is a coping mechanism for stress.
Holiday deals:Shop this season’s top products and sales curated by our editors.
"It involves impetuous purchases that offer this short-term delight but can cause long-term financial strain," she said. "It’s more than just impulse buys or retail therapy.”
More:From Gen Z to Boomers: How much money each generation thinks they need for success
Members of Gen Z said they planned to spend about 21% more than last year during the holidays, according to the report's survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers. In contrast, researchers found Millennials – born from 1981 to 1996 – planned to spend 15% more, Members of Generation X planned to spend 5% more, and Baby Boomers planned to spend 6% more.
Younger people growing up, entering the workforce and earning more money does not alone explain this “doom spending” trend, Jain told USA TODAY.
If these trends were happening year over year, it would make sense, she said, "But the fact that it’s such a jump from last year to this year, says that it’s very much a more recent thing.”
Members of Gen Z and Millennials are also more likely to get gift ideas from social media and to opt for Afterpay, a service that allows you to pay over time,the report found. They are more influenced by time spent scrolling online and more likely to spend beyond their budgets than older generations, the report said.
While credit cards and buy now/pay later agreements have been around for decades, Jain says “doom spending" is a relatively new phenomenon with no direct historical comparison. She added that it shows just how pessimistic today’s young people are about the future.
“All of these negative events and constant fear and literally doom and gloom that younger consumers are exposed to – geopolitics, macro-environment, local and social news – they just grew up in a very non-sheltered life compared to other generations,” Jain said of Gen Z. “They don’t have many ways to self-soothe or cope.”
While some find refuge in “doom spending” others escape to the world of self-care, but that path is also often expensive.
Reach Rachel Barber at rbarber@usatoday.com and follow her on X @rachelbarber_
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Arthur Burns: shorthand for Fed failure?
- We're Drunk in Love With Beyoncé and Jay-Z's Rare Date Night in Paris
- The Indicator Quiz: Inflation
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Tom Brady ends his football playing days, but he's not done with the sport
- Tornadoes touch down in Chicago area, grounding flights and wrecking homes
- Is Temu legit? Customers are fearful of online scams
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- Nearly 1 in 10 U.S. children have been diagnosed with a developmental disability, CDC reports
Ranking
- Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
- Inside Clean Energy: Rooftop Solar Could Lose Big in Federal Regulatory Case
- Whitney Cummings Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby
- Justice Dept to appeal length of prison sentences for Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers for Jan. 6 attack
- Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
- Warming Trends: Indoor Air Safer From Wildfire Smoke, a Fish Darts off the Endangered List and Dragonflies Showing the Heat in the UK
- Beyoncé's Renaissance tour is Ticketmaster's next big test. Fans are already stressed
- Markets are surging as fears about the economy fade. Why the optimists could be wrong
Recommendation
Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
Shoppers Say This Tula Eye Cream Is “Magic in a Bottle”: Don’t Miss This 2 for the Price of 1 Deal
Wildfire Smoke: An Emerging Threat to West Coast Wines
Biden’s Pause of New Federal Oil and Gas Leases May Not Reduce Production, but It Signals a Reckoning With Fossil Fuels
Sam Taylor
A century of fire suppression is worsening wildfires and hurting forests
Inside Clean Energy: Rooftop Solar Gets a Lifeline in Arkansas
COVID test kits, treatments and vaccines won't be free to many consumers much longer