Tigers Talk Money: How FOMO Drives Impulse Spending

In this episode of Tigers Talk Money, host Jonas C. Sheckler, Assistant Director of Financial Well-being of TU's Career Center, speaks with Connor Smith ’23, Events Coordinator of TU's Career Center, to explore how FOMO (fear of missing out) and social media culture shape the way we spend. Through personal stories and reflection, they discuss how feelings of regret, disappointment, and comparison can push people toward experiences or purchases they were never planning to make.

Jonas and Connor also unpack the difference between impulsive spending and compulsive spending, and how quick dopamine hits from online shopping, fast fashion apps, and one-click purchases make it easier than ever to spend without thinking. The episode also examines how social media influencers and subtle advertising tactics influence financial decisions, often without clear disclosure.

Together, Jonas and Connor discuss the importance of transparency, media awareness, and slowing down financial decisions so listeners can build healthier relationships with money in a world designed to make them spend.

Transcript

[00:00:00]

Voiceover: The information presented in this podcast is for informational purposes only. Views and opinions expressed are solely those of this podcast host and guests and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views, policies, or position of Towson University or its affiliated organizations. Towson University does not endorse or assume responsibility for any statements made in this podcast. For more information about TU, visit Towson.edu.

[00:00:27]

[Music]

[00:00:31]

Jonas: Hello, and welcome to the first season of Tigers Talk Money podcast series. Thank you so much for joining. My name is Jonas. I use he/him pronouns, and I serve as the assistant director of financial well-being here at Towson University. The first season of the Tigers Talk Money podcast is all about how social media keeps you sad and poor, and this episode introduces the foundation of those ideas. This is Fear of Missing Out: Appealing to Your Impulsive Side.

Now, I'm so happy to welcome my guest host for this episode, Connor Smith. Connor graduated from TU in 2023 and now works as the events coordinator for TU’s Career Center. As a somewhat recent graduate, I wanted to get his perspective on FOMO and impulsive spending. Connor, thank you so much for joining me.

[00:01:15]

Connor: Thanks for having me, Jonas. I appreciate it.

[00:01:17]

Jonas: Yeah. So what does FOMO mean to you?

[00:01:21]

Connor: For me, its always, I’ve always associated something with my friends. So growing up through school - middle school, high school, you know if my friends were doing something that, you know, I wasn’t necessarily able to do, or I couldn’t do, whether it be financially or otherwise, I would always feel really bad about that. So that’s something that has kind of changed my definition along the way. I would say now it’s more so the experiences in life that I may potentially be missing out on. I’m a huge traveler. I love traveling. So sometimes when there are new things popping up around the country or in other countries that I’m not able to go to, sometimes that also is pretty disappointing. So, for me, that’s, I would say what FOMO is.

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Jonas: Have you ever contributed to that feeling in other people? Where potentially you maybe have invited somebody to something that they can't do, and they had that fear of missing out.

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Connor: So, I don't know if I've actually contributed to that in anybody because I mean nobody has explicitly told me that. But I would say maybe inadvertently I've done that. So sometimes when I invite a group of friends out to go do things and, you know, one person or two people aren't able to make it. You know, if they send if we send pictures in the group chat or something like that, I think that might inadvertently contribute to it.

[00:02:43]

Jonas: I can only speak for myself, but I know that I personally have had many experiences of, experiences of FOMO. The one thing that sticks out in my mind: my friend for her birthday wanted to go to, go for tea, but I wasn’t able to go because of money. I just didn’t have the funds at the time. And I remember that whole day being like, all of my friends are there and I’m at home. It’s not really fear, more like regret. The regret of missing out.

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Connor: For me, also disappointment I think too. Yeah.

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Jonas: Yeah, that’s a good point.

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Connor: I have sort of a similar experience with that. As I mentioned, I do like travel and I follow a lot of people on YouTube that are big travelers. And so, a lot of times they all post like conferences or get-togethers and things like that where they invite the subscribers to come out and like, essentially like a networking event kind of things. And they’ll do them in these cool places. I know there's an upcoming conference. I forget what the name of it is, but, a couple of my favorite YouTubers are going to be there. And it's relatively inexpensive to go to, but it's in Atlanta, and I'm not able to go because I have a family conflict that weekend and I'm like, oh man, I'm missing out on experience to go meet the people that I've watched for years. Family is very important to me, like that's priority number one. And so, you know, being with family is awesome, but like also having those experiences, too, or rather missing out on those experiences I think for me is where the disappointment certainly comes in.

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Jonas: What about impulsive spending? How does that show up in your life or the lives of loved ones? How would you define that?

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Connor: So, the way that I look at it is kind of twofold. So, it's the impulsive spending that's like right in front of your face and then the impulsive spending that is not necessarily so. So what I mean by that is when like you go into stores, like at the checkout lines, they have like the, you know, the drinks and the snacks and the magazines or whatever the, the impulse buys that the companies will try and get you to do. I think that's one way that I look at it, but the other way is, more of the online side of things. So, I know a lot of people in their spare time will go on Amazon and just browse, and then they'll see something relatively inexpensive, and they'll be like, hey, that looks cool. I want to buy that. For me personally, though, as far as how that shows up in my life, you know, I've never been a big spender. But I know with, like, airline and hotel marketing, the emails that I get from them, that is where I tend to be like, oh, like, I gotta have some restraint. But there have been some times where there have been some deals that I've taken advantage of, that I ordinarily wouldn't have just because it's been a cheaper price. And I've tried to justify that. And I know, like the experience has been good going on that trip, but like, in the end, it's like, well, I wasn't planning on doing that. You know, I wasn't necessarily going there to see something. I was just doing it because it was a cheap price, and I impulsively booked it when I saw the email. So, they got me. But that's that's kind of how I see it.

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Jonas: Yeah. And how about how you see impulsive spending showing up in the people around you?

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Connor: The impulsive spending for people in my life kind of comes around Amazon. I know that, like I mentioned earlier with, like, the browsing on Amazon, I feel like that's kind of where it shows up most in my family. So, we are all Prime members, which might not necessarily be, a good thing in that regard, but that's kind of where I see it.

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Jonas: I have a, I won't say a huge problem with impulsive spending, but I have a I will impulsively spend. Um, I have ADHD, and so, there's, there's the idea of, seeking dopamine, and getting dopamine from those really quick buys because it's so easy to hit the buy button. So that's to your point about Amazon or even now, like TikTok Shop or Temu, Temu's really huge or Shein like all of these all of these websites/apps that have popped up where it’s...

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Connor: Yeah.

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Jonas: ...fast fashion or really, really cheap things. And so, people go on, and they spend so much more money than they would have. because they're spending all this time looking through these items that they would have never thought about. They would have never given two seconds of thought about if they hadn't seen it while scrolling through that app.

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Connor: You mentioned the dopamine hit too. It's like you know, I've seen instances, not with in my life personally, but I, I've seen instances where if people are feeling down or you know, they're, they're, you know, not feeling the best, they use online shopping to cope. And so, I think that is also where impulsive spending can come in.

[00:07:15]
 
 

Jonas: 

I characterize that differently than impulsive spending. I classify that as compulsive spending. So compulsive spending and how I differentiate between compulsive and impulsive. Impulsive is like the one time like, as you said, checkout aisle. I want to drink. Compulsive spending has more to do with soothing something in yourself. So, spending, that retail therapy, using that to soothe anxiety or sadness or even anger. When you think about it, that's really what is behind retail therapy, quote unquote. It's not actually therapy. It's hiding. It really is just hiding the problem. It's a symptom of the problem. You are buying things to distract yourself from what you're feeling rather than just feeling it. I would even say happiness. Right? If you go out, to celebrate and you spend all this money on a meal, even that can be a compulsive spending because you want to be spending that money to express how you're feeling.

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Connor: You actually taught me something new because I’ll be honest, I did not know the difference between the two. So. But that's I mean, it certainly shows up in both ways. And, you know, it's unfortunate because I think in the United States at least, we have a huge culture of consumerism. And so, I think that culture of consumerism combined with the fact that there is a mental health crisis in the country, I think really those two just don't blend well together. And so, I think it leads to, you know, huge profits for these big corporations. And then, you know, where does that leave us? And so, it's but that's a whole another and worms to open up. But, yeah.

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Jonas: That kind of speaks to another avenue that I wanted to go down, which has to do with social media, right? So, the corporations obviously they do a lot of construction around behavioral finance and marketing and trying to get people to buy things. But then now corporations have switched to using social media influencers because it, it’s an easier way to get in front of an audience. It’s not a commercial. It’s not an ad on a video. It's somebody who, you know, is speaking to you one on one.

[00:09:21]

Connor: Makes it real for people, yeah.

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Jonas: I’ll go into this in a different episode about parasocial relationships and social media influencers. But the reason that I bring that up is because the whole point of social media and why it became like a really big thing is because it was more personal. You were with somebody in their bathroom, in their bedroom, at home while they're getting ready. You know, you have this sort of it seems like a special insight, and so it seems much more personal. But then you, you figure, you know, these influencers, so many influencers don’t disclose when they have a partnership with somebody, when something is an ad. Um, I know Bloom in particular has been really big with that. Do you know about Bloom?

[00:10:01]

Connor: I’ve heard it, but I’m not too familiar with what it is. 

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Jonas: Yeah. So It's a greens powder supplement, so you just mix it with water. 

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Connor: Oh yes, I have seen that, yeah. 

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Jonas: And so, you'll see so many influencers, just like while you're scrolling, they'll just have Bloom in the background, but you can see that it's Bloom and they have it facing the camera and everything like that.

[00:10:18]

Connor: Right, right.

[00:10:19]

Jonas: And so it's very purposefully like that. They are getting paid for that, but they've been actually instructed by the company not to say that it's an ad and not to, like, make a big deal out of it so that it's just part of their life, quote unquote. And so that makes it even more insidious because you, you're seeing this consumption, this overconsumption, on social media with these people who you admire, um, whose lifestyles that you want to emulate. And so people do end up getting into debt because they're trying to live that same lifestyle.

[00:10:52]

Connor: Yeah. And that brings up an interesting point, too. I think companies nowadays are really, really good at finding tailor-made content for those kinds of things. So, on YouTube you'll see, like during videos, they'll have like a break in it and then the creator will say, oh, you know, such and such. This is this product or this is the service. And oftentimes it'll be related to what the actual video itself is about. Especially in this age of social media, corporations have gotten very, very good about that, both subtly and not subtly. So.

[00:11:22]

Jonas: Yeah, finding those influencers.

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Connor: Yeah.

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Jonas: And being able to target their audiences. How does social media influence you or others around you when it comes to spending? Like, how do you see that show up?

[00:11:35]
 Connor: 

For me personally, really the biggest thing is travel with that. So, with the people that I follow on YouTube who have that content, the things that they're doing, the places that they're going, all of that kind of stuff at large, inspires me to either create a trip out of that or, you know, something similar. And so that would kind of push me in the direction of spending more money on something that I might not otherwise be thinking about. And so, I find that trying to be mindful about that while I'm watching content, you know, a couple of years ago, I was really bad at it, but I've gotten I've gotten to the point now where I've been able to have more self-control with it. But it's interesting how there's that relationship where, like you mentioned earlier, you see someone that you've been following for a while doing something specific, and you're like, oh, man, that would be really cool to go and see that.

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Jonas: Again, that goes right back to the FOMO portion.

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Connor: Hundred percent.

[00:12:24

Jonas: Because you see this person having this experience and you want to have that experience as well. Again, it's not necessarily a fear or disappointment or regret, like, it's just that idea of missing out on something and whatever negative feeling that makes you feel. I feel like that's really what it comes down to. And how that appeals to your impulsive side, right? Because you weren't planning on having this trip. And then all of a sudden, the idea pops into your head and you start planning and the money that you would have put towards another trip that maybe you'd been thinking about for way longer, then goes to the wayside.

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Connor: Yeah.

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Jonas: So that you can do this trip instead.

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Connor: The way that I've kind of dealt with that with, you know, the trips that I might not ordinarily have been planning, but I saw something. It’s kind of, it’s interesting to me because those have taken, sort of a front seat compared to the trips that I was planning. And, you know, it's like, wow, I was, you know, I'd been thinking about going to X, Y, or Z place for a long time. But, you know, I saw this person doing this thing and I'm like, wow, that seems like it'd be really cool to do. And I end up doing that first, and it's like, wow, you know, it's crazy how much influence that that can have. Hence why they're called influencers. So.

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Jonas: Yeah. The whole, their whole point is to influence lifestyle or really to influence, I mean at this point it's really just to influence spending habits and purchases.

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Connor: Absolutely.

[00:13:43]

Jonas: How do you deal with regulating your impulses around purchases, or how do you, keep yourself more responsible and accountable?

[00:13:52]

Connor: I will fully say that this does not necessarily work for everybody, because everybody is different when it comes to savings and what their bank accounts look like. I'll literally go into my bank account on my app, and I'll look at the amount that I have in my bank account, and I'll be like, I only have X amount of money, I don't want to spend X amount of money, so don't do it. And so, seeing that number in writing physically helps me. But I know I've talked to my friends about this too, because my friends are, they're big Amazon shoppers. They'll only allow themselves to do it like a certain time of the month, um so, or a certain time of the year. So like holiday shopping or things like that.

[00:14:29]

Jonas: Yeah, I'll say for me some ways that I deal with it, especially if it's online shopping, I treat it like, like I'm going on a shopping spree, and I just put things in the cart. So, I have that sort of hit a dopamine again, to kind of go back to that. But that idea that I'm, you know, buying something new, I have that almost feeling of shopping, but I ex out at the end. I don't actually go through with purchasing anything. I've heard a lot of people doing that. Especially people with ADHD, because, again, impulsive spending is a really, tricky issue because of the dopamine hits that you get and because, with ADHD, you're constantly seeking that, that next dopamine hit. A lot of people with ADHD will do the online shopping spree basket and then ex out.

[00:15:16]

Connor: Honestly, that’s a really great idea. I feel like, yeah, a lot of people might want to try that. I feel like I mean obviously you have to have the discipline not to click checkout, but you know, at least having that action of like physically adding the items of the cart is, is pretty good because you still get that hit.

[00:15:32]

Jonas: Or, um, a lot of apps now allow you to turn your card on and off. I'll do that in the app so that I'm not tempted to spend money, or if I am tempted to spend money, it will decline it. So, then I'm not just spending everything that I have and then having to pay it back because it's a credit card.

[00:15:48]

Connor: One thing that I did want to mention is I think about future things that I'll be spending money on. So, I'm going to be in the market for a car in the next couple of years, and I've been saving up for a down payment for that. I'd like to eventually buy a house one day, but who knows with where the economy is at the moment. But those are, those are goals that I have. And so the way that I kind of frame it is, you know, I'll think, okay, well, I could be spending $20 on, you know, something on Amazon, or I could be spending like ten bucks to go get something from a fast-food restaurant, or instead, I could be putting that amount into whatever savings account that I have. Because even though it's a small amount, it's still an amount and it's going towards something. So, I'm like, yes, I'll get short-term, short-term happiness, if you will, out of, you know, stopping by a fast-food restaurant or getting something from Amazon, but long-term wise, what's that going to do?

[00:16:37]

Jonas: Yeah, the short-term gratification.

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Connor: Exactly.

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Jonas: And I feel like that's where people, that's where most people get hung up. Especially these days, and especially when it comes to social media and, um, consumption habits that are portrayed on social media. So, we've talked about how social media influences you and others around you when it comes to spending. What changes would you like to see, or how would you like to see social media change its portrayal of overconsumption or impulsive spending or FOMO?

[00:17:08]

Connor: I think there needs to be more transparency on what is considered an ad and what is not. It definitely is a form of manipulation by that company and even by that influencer too, to get people to spend more money. I think if it's listed as an ad, yes, you'll still see the person using that product, but you'll know that it's not like, oh, this person like actually really likes this product. And they're actually using it on a daily basis. Having that disclaimer there would be incredibly important. Coming at it from the perspective of the companies, like, I can understand why they wouldn't like that because, you know, people like on like on YouTube specifically, they'll have the skip ad button after five seconds. People just hate ads in general. And so, if the company says that, you know, this person's doing it, or sorry, the influencer says that they're using this product, but it is an ad, I don't necessarily think that would turn off people because it's not like a irritation. Like, you know, when you click on a video, you have to wait for the ad and it's it's like, you know, another ad or two ads or whatever it might be like, if this one is like, okay, I'm talking about this product, but it's part of the video. So maybe there's a trade off there that that companies could have. But even even still, I think regardless transparency that that needs to be there.

[00:18:20]

Jonas: The FTC has created guidelines around this, and they have been very clear about what they expect about how social media influencers are supposed to be disclosing it. And they are supposed to be disclosing it, verbally, in written form, in the video itself as well as in the description. So, a lot of times what people will do is they may put like a hashtag, like hashtag Bloom partner, hashtag ad in the description. But according to the FTC, that is not sufficient enough. They're supposed to be also disclosing it verbally. This is an ad or I was given this product for free. And you see that even in Amazon reviews like the Amazon Vine. It's a, like a partnership program for people who produce quality reviews. They're invited to sign up for this partnership program where they can then order things on Amazon. Specific things. They have to be listed on the Amazon Vine storefront, but they can buy that for free. Like, they can get it shipped to them for free. And then they give a review. But the review says that it's an Amazon Vine partnership. You're also supposed to put in your review that you received the product for free.

[00:19:31]

Connor: You know, I'm glad you mentioned the FTC guidelines, because I feel like there's a lot of gray area with this. And so, one example that I can think of is not necessarily social media, but it's in like film and TV. You know, a lot of times you'll notice that companies will like have product placement in those, but like you can't say in the middle of the movie, this is an ad. Like I think back to, like the Home Alone movies. We did a case study on this in my marketing class back in high school, and the two companies that had product placement in there were Pepsi and American Airlines. I know with American specifically, they donated those two planes to use for filming free of charge if, essentially, there was no monetary exchange. So essentially it was like, okay, well, we know the plot of the movie involves someone, getting on a plane and flying somewhere and getting lost in New York or whatever it might be. We'll give this to you for free so you don't have to pay for it as part of your set expenses or whatever. But in exchange, we don't want to pay for our name to be on screen. So having that case study in my marketing class was really interesting. And I think that's kind of going back to your point about the FTC guidelines with social media. You know, there's a, there's a really big gray area there. And like you said, the manipulation that companies can have over us, whether it be influencers in daily life or just in movies like it's there, it's always present, it’s always there. It's, it's and so I think that's something that certainly needs to be looked at, possibly even more.

[00:20:54]

Jonas: I would say for social media, definitely. For like movies and TV shows, most of that is known to be fictional and so I can see more leniency there with disclosing. And movies and TV shows have so many credits that it's probably in the credits somewhere.

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Connor: It probably is. It’s like terms and conditions that nobody reads. Yeah, exactly, yeah.

[00:21:14]

Jonas: Yeah, but social media influencers don’t necessarily have credits on their videos.

[00:21:19]

Connor: And It's just it’s, it’s a form of deception, too. Like they’re just, they’re making people think that they use it and they really don’t.

[00:21:25]

Jonas: The one instance of that that always pops into my mind is this one makeup influencer, this one beauty influencer who was reviewing mascara and she put on a pair of false eyelashes after quote unquote putting on the mascara.

[00:21:39]

Connor: Oh.

[00:21:40]

Jonas: To show like, oh, these look like false eyelashes because they were false eyelashes. And she got a lot of backlash for that. But it's like, again, to the transparency effect, as a social media influencer, as influencers, you are cultivating your audience by instilling trust and being somebody who is honest. And so, if you are not being honest, you are killing your audience. And therefore, killing your trajectory in the future. So, I totally agree.

[00:22:09]

Connor: And not to open up a can of worms with the social media side of things. But like when it comes to the responsibility of not only the creator and the companies involved, but the actual social media platform itself, like what kinds of things could they be doing outside of government regulation?

[00:22:24]

Jonas: I know YouTube will demonetize videos that violate terms of service, which could technically also be the lack of disclosure of an advertisement or of sponsored content. But to that point, I feel like especially TikTok could really benefit from that.

[00:22:43]

Connor: Oh, yeah.

[00:22:44]

Jonas: Because that's where you see it's so rampant. Whether it is the Bloom ad, or whether it is a beauty influencer, or whether it's even a finance influencer telling you to invest in one place or another. And not saying, you know, the kickbacks that they receive for recommending those things. Social media has become a new marketplace. Rather than being a marketplace of ideas, it's just a marketplace.

[00:23:11]

Jonas: Connor, thank you so much for this conversation. I really appreciate your insight and you sharing those stories. Is there any final thoughts that you'd like to share?

[00:23:20]

Connor: Yeah. You're very welcome. Thanks for having me on. I certainly appreciate it. And just remember that if you ever have FOMO, if you ever have the need for, you know, you ever feel like you're about to impulsively spend on something, just remember in that moment that there's no time clock. And so, what I mean by that is, you know, if your friends are out doing something that you can't do, you know, it's not necessarily like you're going to miss out on that thing for the rest of your life. You could very well do that thing again later when you're available. Same thing with impulsive spending. You know, if you're thinking about getting that thing and it's like, oh my gosh, like, I don't want it to go away. Like, chances are, unless it's like some clearance sale, it probably won't go away. So just take a step back, take a breath. Remember, you've got time. There's no need to rush into doing anything. And I find that when you take that step back, that'll be a big help.

[00:24:08]

Jonas: Excellent. Thank you so much, Connor. 

[00:24:10]

Connor: Sure thing. 

[00:24:11]

Jonas: And thank you, everybody, for joining us for this episode. Again, this was Fear of Missing Out: Appealing to Your Impulsive Side on the Tigers Talk Money podcast. We'll see you next time. Thank you.

[00:24:22]

Voiceover: The information presented in this podcast is for informational purposes only. Views and opinions expressed are solely those of this podcast’s host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views, policies, or position of Towson University or its affiliated organizations. Towson University does not endorse or assume responsibility for any statements made in this podcast. For more information about TU, visit towson.edu.