Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok are negatively impacting users’ finances, as well as causing nearly half of Generation Z and Millennials to feel unhappy about their financial situation, according to a recent study.
More than one in three U.S. adults who have social media (34 percent) say they have felt negatively about their finances after seeing other users’ posts, according to a new poll by Bankrate.
“Those feelings included jealousy, inadequacy, anxiety, shame and anger,” Bankrate reports.
Among those who have reported feeling negatively about their finances, younger generations are the hardest, with nearly half of Generation Z (47 percent) and Millennials (46 percent) feeling bad about their financial situation after spending time on social media.
That compares with nearly a third of Generation X (31 percent), and just over a fifth of Baby Boomers (22 percent), the study adds.
The poll also revealed that social media makes users feel worse about their finances more than it negatively impacts other aspects of their lives. The runner-up is “appearances,” with 32 percent of respondents saying social media makes them feel bad about how they look to others.
Appearances is followed by 27 percent of respondents reporting feeling negatively about their careers, 26 percent about their living situations, 25 percent about their personal relationships, and 17 percent about their hobbies.
Users’ spending habits are also being negatively impacted, as nearly half of users (49 percent) admitted to making an impulse purchase based on something they saw on social media, with most of them (64 percent) saying they regretted it.
Moreover, younger social media users (66 percent of Generation Z and 57 percent of Millennials) are more likely to make an impulse purchase, compared with 45 percent of Generation X and 38 percent of Baby Boomers, the survey found.
Women are also more likely than men (52 percent compared with 45 percent) to make a compulsive buy based on social media.
Additionally, 64 percent of parents with children under 18 on social media have reported the online platforms contributing to their kids having unrealistic expectations about money, Bankrate adds.
And while users scroll through their social media feeds, looking at other people’s posts, and feeling negatively about their lives, nearly half (46 percent) of Generation Z and more than a third (38 percent) of Millennials report making social media posts to appear successful to others.
“Social media distorts reality in the sense that people put their best foot forward and sometimes portray unrealistic versions of themselves,” Ted Rossman, Bankrate credit card senior industry analyst, said.
“You don’t know if someone took on a lot of debt to fund the amazing vacation or the perfectly put together outfit depicted in their photos,” Rossman added. “This can lead to a ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ kind of competition among friends and acquaintances.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.