You don’t need everything you want

Health care is a necessity. A Taylor Swift ticket is not. vox.com/culture CULTURE   If you have any social media accounts, it’s not hard to become a victim of overconsumption. Currently, my Instagram feed has more ads for Vitamin-C serums than pictures of my loved ones. And my last few purchases have been completely unecessary beauty products I’ve been influenced to buy. But do we have to live this way? Vox senior correspondent Emily Stewart [discusses how the line between wants and needs has become blurred]( in our era of influencer-friendly aesthetics and the philosophy of “treat yourself” spending. Her question is not whether we deserve nice things, but whether we should be gifting ourselves constantly at the expense of more crucial investments or even basic necessities like groceries. Yes, the world has become increasingly — and painfully — more expensive, and we have a right to be angry about it. But a main trick of capitalism is making us believe we can’t relinquish any power over our spending. Meanwhile, my pile of unopened lip glosses tells me I can. —Kyndall Cunningham, culture writer Editor's note: For ongoing coverage and analysis of the developing conflict between Israel and Hamas, [read our Vox colleagues' work here](. You don’t need everything you want [an illustration of a long haired person on a hamster wheel surrounded by eyes, hearts, shopping bags, and receipts on a blue background]( Paige Vickers / Vox I am tired of talking about money. I recognize how that sounds, given that I talk about money for a living. Still, it feels like an inordinate number of conversations I’m involved in lately end up about how much more expensive everything is now (which is true) and how much the economy sucks (which is false). Can you believe how pricey that restaurant was? I’m shocked at the cost of my wedding. Tipping culture is so out of control. It’s not that these issues aren’t painful, it’s just that they’re also exhausting. Some of them have simple solutions, too, just not fun ones. You can cook at home. A fancy wedding is not compulsory. Tips are optional, and if you’re that upset over giving the barista a dollar or two, there are cheaper alternatives for your morning coffee. Part of the issue is that [we seem to have blurred the distinction between a want and a need.]( Child care and a place to live and a tank of gas to get to work are necessities. The latest iPhone, not so much. On this, some people — and I include myself here — have lost the plot. If you took a European vacation this year, what a delight. Also, it was a privilege, not a right. It’s a choice, too, and one that might make your financial goals later down the line harder to attain. The American economy remains one of abundance. Said abundance isn’t equally distributed, of course, and lots of people really are struggling. But as angry as consumers say they are about the economy, they’re not, on aggregate, changing their spending habits. [For many people in the country, life is pretty good.]( And yet, they often don’t feel that way. No matter how much we’ve attained, we always want more. The landscape has gotten me thinking about expectations lately — what is fair to expect out of life, financially, and what is not. It sometimes makes me wonder if part of the answer here is that we need to scale back expectations. Things may not turn out as perfectly as everyone wants, but fine is also, you know, fine. Just because something doesn’t feel great doesn’t mean it’s fundamentally unfair. (Sometimes, the most unfair things are the ones that feel really great — as long as you’re on the right side of the trade.) [Read the full story »](  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Online daters love to hate on Hinge. 10 years in, it’s more popular than ever. Hinge has tried its darnedest to fix online dating. Is the real problem us? [Read the full story »]( There’s more than one way to feel lonely Here's how to interpret your own feelings. [Read the full story »](   Support our work We aim to explain what we buy, why we buy it, and why it matters. Support our mission by making a gift today. [Give](   More good stuff to read today - [The best advice we got in 2023]( - [Ferrari is an ode to dudes who love cars, from one of their own]( - [Alcohol overuse causes 140,000 American deaths annually. Why is it so undertreated?]( - [The lasting impact of The Color Purple]( - [Broadway is full of jukebox musicals and movie adaptions. That might not be as bad as it sounds.]( - [Relationships aren’t always going to be totally balanced. That isn’t a bad thing.]( - [It’s okay to be optimistic about the economy this year](  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( Manage your [email preferences]( or [unsubscribe](param=culture). 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