TopHatFox wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 12:39 pm
@Lemur, could be. Also, everyone’s frame of reference is now as big as the world, because income data is now available in detail for pretty much the entire west, from the custodian to the coder to the CEO. There also seems to be a skew on perception of income on social media. I often see ppl saying 100k isn’t much on social media, but 250k - that’s where it’s at. I’m just thinking, that’s a tiny % of the population. Could explain why ppl don’t wanna work as much; why work hard if your share of the pie is relatively small despite working 50 hrs/wk.
To me, there seems to be a misalignment of values in your life. It's like you want so much to be part of the "tech bro" lifestyle/world that anything short of that feels like failure. I mean if you want to do that sort of coding work because you enjoy it, then sure that's cool. If you want to maximize everything in your salaryman work, I believe 7WB5 years ago rather comically pursued that lifestyle for a short time after reading
Efficiency by WSP. The blueprint for that hyper-specialized lifestyle is well-documented in other parts of the internet. However, this is ERE land. So most folks on here are looking at things from a systems perspective rather than just trying to focus every ounce of energy on one thing (salary job). Of course, if you feel like your job is a calling/passion/profession then by all means go for it. You can design your lifestyle how you want.
Social media is by nature a bubble. That is, you will only see things from your peers that various algorithms want you to see based on your interests. So if you're making $100k a year, then you're going to feel pretty poor if everyone around you is making $200k. Meanwhile, if you started hanging out with a bunch of broke grad students or blue collar laborers making <$40k a year, all of a sudden you would probably be feeling pretty rich. If you want to detach from that, then you are going to have to redirect your social media time into something else. Also note that if you live in a HCOLA area and your social circle is all "rich" people, it may be harder to detach from this sort of thinking. Maybe that is a factor since you have spent so much time in South Florida, which is known for its lavish lifestyles.
The other thing I will point out is these ideas about the ladder of American Social Class:
https://web.archive.org/web/20151006183 ... n-the-u-s/
If you are trying to change social classes, I recommend first identifying on the ladder where you grew up. Then you can try to identify where you are now (for most people it's the same class that they grew up in, but there are exception). If you want to climb the ladder, you can also get an idea of what it takes to get there. Note that the Gentry, Labor, and Elite are different in kind with regards to how they see the world, how they utilize money, etc etc. Also note that these are social classes, not economic classes. In other words, you can have very rich people who are still part of the Gentry or Labor classes. This could be owners of a highly profitable blue-collar business, as an example. You can also have poorer people who still think and act like Elites (think old money but perhaps the generational wealth has been squandered in recent generations). All this is useful to give you perspective on the world.
Edit: Here is a relevant excerpt regarding the issue of labor vs ownership:
The Elite Ladder (1.5%). This is an infrastructure “at the top of society”, but many of the people it includes are in many ways nowhere near the top. People complain about “the 1 percent”, but the reality is that most of that top 1.0% are nowhere near controlling positions within society.
Not all of the Elite are in the top 1% for income, but most will have the opportunity to be. The Elite includes everyone from billionaires to out-of-college investment banking analysts (who earn a middle-class income in one of the most expensive cities on the planet). What they have in common is that they are exerting themselves toward ownership. Labor provides the work and values effort and loyalty. The Gentry provides culture and it values education and creativity. The Elite owns things and values control and establishment.
