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I don’t use Instagram. I drive a 21 year old car. Many of my clothes are from the charity shop. I really do spend most of life completely oblivious as to how I compare to others.
But my guilty pleasures are the “See the average net worth for Australians….” articles. It’s reassuring to think that you’re going better than average. That the hard work and moderate spending have actually led you to a healthy financial position.
But recently I took it a step too far. A financial services firm in Australia asked its followers on various social media platforms to fill in a survey about income, net worth, retirement savings etc. Given my weakness for such comparisons, I was all in. After completing the survey, it showed where we ranked. Well below average, actually in the bottom third! My heart sank. I thought we were doing better than that.
Then the rational part of my brain kicked in. I was comparing our situation against a small sample size, not representative of the general population. More specifically, it is a subset that is most likely to be in a strong financial position, given that it is consuming social media content from a financial services company. I had to keep reminding myself that such comparison was not helpful, and in fact could be quite harmful.
Another reminder that comparison is the thief of joy. Best that I stay off Instagram.
Greg, was there some hook to lure those responding to the survey to use the firm’s services to move up in ranking? I’d stick with the advice in your closing sentence.
Greg, I went to a gym once. I’m in decent shape for my age, though measuring myself against the sculpted devotees I encountered there was always going to be a fool’s errand. I only need to walk down my local high street to get a far more honest read on where I actually stand. We tend to choose our comparisons the way we choose our mirrors: angled to flatter, or to wound. The high street doesn’t lie.
There’s a lesson in that somewhere, I’m sure.
On a humorous note: I used the term Instagram in front of my twenty-something daughter, and she suggested I was showing my age… apparently it’s “insta” for the knowing crowd.