One thousand can be spent, but ten yuan must be saved? Observation on the "magic" consumer psychology of contemporary youth
Half a month on reporter Tanaka Quan
"Supermarket shopping 300 yuan, shopping bag two cents too expensive do not buy" "100 yuan free shipping, buy! 90 yuan merchandise + 10 yuan postage, do not buy" "18 yuan milk tea drink you drink, 15 yuan a month video member I asked 30 people to borrow the account."... The magical consumption outlook of contemporary young people has caused heated discussions, and netizens have said, "I am right."
Some people sum up this young people's view of consumption as: one thousand can be spent, ten yuan must be saved.
Behind this "magic consumption view", what kind of consumer psychology does young people reflect?
Saving money is a pleasure
"Those who are willing to spend must spend, and those who are not necessary will never spend it." 25-year-old Chen Min defined his consumerism in this way.
After graduating this year, Chen Min worked in a real estate company in Shanghai.
She likes shopping online, and she knows how to buy the most expensive things with the least amount of money on online shopping platforms.
Chen Min told Banyuetan reporter: "Once there are promotions, I will never let go of any coupons, and the price can be cut as much as possible. I also participate in various bargaining games, and sometimes even harass non-friends to help. I help."
"Every time I see my coupons can help me save tens of hundreds of dollars, I am very satisfied!" Chen Min said.
Xu Rencui is a Ph.D student at Wuhan University, and he also has a consumption concept of “saving if you can save”.
"Once I had a braised pot with my boyfriend, the meal cost was a few hundred yuan, but the store had to pay extra for the two yuan a pack of napkins. My boyfriend offered to buy one, but I brought the napkins and finally refused to buy it." Xu Rencui said, "I taught my boyfriend a lesson at the time, reminding him to save money and don't buy unnecessary things."
"Paying for meals and paying for paper towels are completely two concepts. The food in this store has a unique taste and is not replaceable. You can spend more to eat what you like, but the paper towels are the same. It is better to bring some yourself. "Xu Rencui thinks.
The more expensive things, the less hesitate to spend
Many young people believe that there are thousands of reasons to spend money. Buying is to be kind to themselves, and not to buy is to owe themselves.
"It doesn't matter whether it's expensive or not, but value is the most important thing." For Chen Min, who can save money by spending money, he also has the experience of "massive" consumption.
Chen Min loves to dance, and always spends weekends to practice dancing in the dance room, but for her, a 3,000 yuan dance card is a big expense.
“Although you can save money, you can save money, but you save money to buy the goods you like.” Chen Min said, “Practicing dancing can shape your figure and make you more confident, so no matter how expensive the dance card is, you have to buy it.”
Although many young people have low wages and low living expenses, they have their own balance of what money is worth spending more, and what money is unnecessary.
"Usually my clothes are one or two hundred yuan, but I will buy it for thousands of dollars when I encounter a style I like. I think this is very worthwhile. I will have a strong sense of satisfaction and confidence in the clothes I like. , I feel that the money is spent on the blade." Xu Rencui said.
Chen Long, a student of Wuhan University of Technology, loves to play basketball and usually likes to collect basketball shoes. His shoe cabinet is full of all kinds of out-of-print sneakers, many of whom have thousands of dollars.
"Each pair of shoes has a special meaning behind it. Although they are bought with a lot of money, they are more like a kind of company for me." Chen Long said.
"Miracle" consumer psychology is not magic
For the current young people’s consumer psychology of “saving, saving, and spending”, psychologists believe that this belongs to the common category of “mental accounts”, that is, people divide various expenditures or benefits into different accounts in their hearts. , And these accounts are not interoperable most of the time.
Thousands of dollars of clothes meet their consumer psychological expectations, and they won't feel expensive, so just buy it. The 10 yuan shipping was originally not within their consumption expectations. Suddenly letting them spend this money is not easy to accept.
This kind of consumption view can help people make quick decisions, do their own financial management and money distribution plan, and the benefits are obvious.
But in reality, this cognition will also be affected by malicious propaganda by merchants, forming an unreasonable concept of money distribution, and spending large sums of money on goods that "seemly worth spending".
Ideological and political researchers believe that it is quite common for college students who have just stepped into the society to have immature consumption concepts and to emphasize material rather than cultural consumption.
Once the unreasonable concept of money distribution is formed, young people will easily feel "feeling that nothing has been done but the money is gone" in their daily consumption.
Experts suggest that young people should be alert to the negative impact of this consumption concept, learn to avoid pitfalls, and avoid impulsive consumption, unreasonable consumption and pre-consumption behavior.
For example, you can use the method of keeping accounts to balance consumption and reflect on whether each of your expenditures is valuable and meaningful.
(Published in "Ban Yue Tan" Issue 19, 2020)