Social media fuels obsession with financial success, psychologists warn

For generations raised with social media, financial success is no longer just built; it must be displayed. Follower counts, lavish vacations, and designer possessions have become personal benchmarks of worth. This digital obsession with wealth, however, carries significant personal and relational costs.

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Our value as a person is equal to the sum in our account, the position on our business card, or the goods we own.

Recent studies highlight the detrimental effects of an excessive preoccupation with money. Research published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships found that individuals who equate money with happiness often experience persistent dissatisfaction and a relentless drive for material accumulation. These dynamics frequently fuel conflicts within marriages, diminishing overall marital satisfaction.

Psychotherapist Denisa Zdrobiș explains that this dangerous equation, personal value equaling bank balance or possessions, begins long before one earns their first salary. "Money is not just an economic resource; it becomes a carrier of deep emotional messages," she states. When individuals evaluate themselves based on income, they are desperately seeking validation, belonging, and emotional security, not just wealth.

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When a person begins to evaluate their personal value through the prism of income, they are not just looking for money, but desperately seeking validation, belonging, and emotional security.

This pattern often originates in childhood, where parental approval might have been conditional on performance or material standards. Such experiences teach a child they are loved for what they achieve or provide, not for who they are. As adults, they may continue this pattern, believing a new financial milestone will finally bring inner peace and a sense of being "good enough."

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This rigid association often has its roots in the dynamics of the family of origin, where perhaps parental love, attention, or pride were directly conditioned by performance, high grades, or high material standards.

The issue escalates when financial success eclipses all other aspects of life, becoming the sole criterion for self-evaluation. This creates a state of perpetual anxiety, where any financial setback feels like a personal collapse. The individual becomes unable to relax, judges friends and partners by their financial utility, and feels a compulsive need to flaunt their success, trapped in an identity solely defined by resource production.

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We are talking about that state of permanent alert where no amount of money seems enough, and any small financial regression or loss of a client is experienced as a collapse of one's own identity.