'Doom spending' | The new trend among young people explained - is it retail therapy or something more insidious?

Spending money as a way to soothe ourselves isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon. ‘Retail therapy’ has long been a phrase used to describe the act of shopping with the primary goal of boosting your mood.

However, a new, more insidious term has been coined to describe an anxiety-fueled purchasing trend being widely acted out by young people: ‘doom spending’. According to a recent study, 43% of millennials and 35% of Gen Zers doom spend to make themselves feel better.

As humans, when we buy things we release dopamine, a chemical linked to pleasure and reward. Purchasing something new can also be linked to other psychological factors, such as the symbolism around owning items, having control in our lives, or introducing new elements into our lives through the novelty of buying new things.

The difference between doom spending and retail therapy is the association between spending and its link to stress and anxiety around money. Even though there are crossovers between the two, as retail therapy can be associated with alleviating stress, it hasn’t typically been associated with having financial stress.