The Dark Sides of Flex Culture

Don’t forget to check out Smokey Glow!! Hannah’s video on flex culture: https://youtu.be/6QTQnNY4yLQ TIME STAMPS BELOW ✨ 0:00 - intro 0:35 - what is flexing? 2:30 - flexing on youtube 2:57 - “new money” vs “old money” 4:19 - the excessiveness of flexing 5:45 - my opinions on designer/luxury items 7:30 - the normalization of luxury clothing (Smokey Glow) 8:24 - why are luxury brands all over youtube now? 8:59 - luxury brands’ low wages and bad working conditions 10:26 - overconsumption 11:09 - the environmental impact of flex culture 12:03 - the glorification of flying in private planes 14:01 - bad influences for children 17:49 - we are taught to desire luxury items, but are they worth it?? 19:26 - the unrealistic expectations of the influencer lifestyle 20:18 - you don’t need new clothes constantly to be stylish 20:50 - fake flexing 22:37 - the illusion of a perfect appearance 23:18 - the cost of trying to become an influencer 24:08 - influencers can rent “aesthetic” apartments just for photos 25:22 - Lil Tay 26:13 - rent a private jet just for photos 26:40 - some youtubers buy tons of clothes just for hauls, then return it 27:25 - flex culture encourages the counterfeit market

i overconsume youtube videos

Money can’t buy style.

Flex culture has really influenced my 9 year old sister. She has become so ungrateful and is very vocal about disliking her gifts. Her teacher had the class do a Christmas class party gift thing and she was literally crying. She looked at all the expensive over the top gifts some of her classmates got and was ashamed of her very pretty gift our mom spent forever looking for. It made me so sad to see my mom upset because she was so excited to gift it to my sister. Those channels are so annoying and I'll never forgive them for how they are impacting young children's' lives and values.

"Social media is dystopia" Young adult novel authors: WRITE THAT DOWN! WRITE THAT DOWN!

Designer clothes for babies is probably one of the most gross aspects of this. It's not talked about a lot, but seeing a 2 year old in something like Gucci is just ://. Everyone knows children grow out of their clothes within months so it's one of the most "I have so much money that I can just throw it away" thing.

“don’t go broke trying to look rich”

This is why I just focus on how the clothing looks. Designer clothes don’t automatically equal style. Fashion is art and requires composition

I flex about my two completely normal black cats because they are very cute

Tiffany throws some of the most respectful shade.

I also hate the fact that some influencers make Walmart, Target, thrift stores, and Dollar Tree look bad when most of the time regular people go there for groceries and house hold items that they actually need/value

People spend too much money trying to impress people they don't know or even like.

remember that time when people were trying to cut through things with a red hot knife and jeffree star cut through a gucci bag or something for views, like okay do whatever you want with your money but some people are starving out there while you are destroying luxury items for fun honey

The biggest flex is buying local and supporting independent artists/designers. 😎

Let’s be honest flexing started in pre school with show and tell

I believe it was dolly parton that once said "it takes alot of money to look this cheap" lol.

The biggest flex should be being financially free, having a 401k, donating, living a pure a simple life where you don't owe anybody anything

Consumerism is a thing that I struggle with.

I once saw a guy totally outfitted in Gucci at an airport and he looked so silly surrounded by tired cranky airport people like no one cares it’s 2 am

I'm kinda bothered by the comments not actually seeing the problem and perpetuate the idea of old money vs new money. The actual problem here is mass consumerism and materialism under late stage capitalism, an indication that material products have overtaken society. Old money people should not be praised for not being tacky here -- they are the root cause of this. Through generational wealth and power they have monopoly over media and production, thus our lives. They are the ones who caused this. We shouldn't be glorifying old rich people