Looking forward to a treat is a tale as old as time, or at least as old as capitalism. Its the delayed gratification game: After eating broccoli you can have curly fries, once you finish crying over math homework you can watch TV, when work is over you can have funand maybe therell be a couple years of retirement you can squeeze in before you hit the can. Now, in the digital age, the concept of treating yourself has become a staple among young adults looking to make todays economic stress go down more smoothly.
Thats because being an adult doesnt seem to have the promise of agency and purpose it once did. At the risk of sounding like Debbie Downer at Disney, millennials and older Gen Zers are doing the non-fun adult things like working without the added benefits of being able to afford a house, much less a comfortable life or even a world that isnt subject to the chaos of climate change, political extremism, and a pandemic. Why not get a treatmaybe some ice cream, a little plant, or even a Garfield phoneto wash the bitter taste of reality all down?
Thats how Gen Z and millennials are dealing with their difficult economic reality. Younger generations, who lost multiple key years to a locked-down, pandemic world, have noticed life is short. Their response: Buy the treat, and lose the pretense that its a bad thing.
Theyve taken to Twitter and TikTok to talk about how buying a treat helps them get through the day, even with low savings. They say little indulgences arent making the already hefty price of living all that much less affordable, and it helps give them a sense of control over life. Also, treats are just fun.
1984s George Whorewell (@EwdatsGROSS) June 2, 2023
Treating yourself isnt a new or generational phenomenon, but I do think it holds a special appeal for a lot of people my age, explains Liat, a 27-year-old nonprofit worker. She requested her last name be withheld to minimize her digital profile, even though she has a Google-able enough name as is.
Treat culture, she says, is related to burnout, hot girl walks, and being young in a decaying empire.
Treats are helping us escape the economy
The Treat Yo Self meme from NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation as the likely origin of the ubiquitous girlboss saying that gets printed on mugs and shirts and various wine mom merch, Liat says. Now, the word represents a much-needed salve for workplace and general existentialism during a time of high employee malaise.
Were of a generation thats coming to terms with the fact that nothingthe ability to buy our own homes, the promise of being paid a living wage, a habitable planetis guaranteed to us the way it was to our parents generation, Liat says, adding that turning to treats is a logical response to the financial worries and general anxiety pervading young adult life. California is burning to the ground, Social Security is gonna run out of money before were even eligible, housing and healthcare and education are all getting more and more expensive.
another day upholding the Treat Economy pic.twitter.com/C6ruMHOEwq
multitude container (@bartleby_era) June 1, 2023
Kiana Davis has seen evidence of the treat economy in her clothing store, Kiki The Brand. The 26-year-old says she releases new pieces once or twice monthlya drop style her customers clamor for, signifying they feel they deserve the indulgence of a limited item, she explains Fortune. I really love that because that is how I live my life.
I dont mind spending the money if it results in me being happy. It could be $5 or $100. It doesnt really matter if Ive had a big workload or a relaxed day, a treat is deserved whenever I feel like I need one, Davis says. Usually thats Health-Ades Pink Lady Kombucha, an affordable and healthy way of getting her daily boost of happiness.
Her below viral tweet explains as much, with 2,500 people backing her up. She believes that young women are especially starting to push against treat stigma: We value our money but most importantly, we value our happiness.
i need a treat and a little gift regularly in order to be happy and there is nothing wrong w that
curry queen (@loookatmeimkiad) May 31, 2023
But there isnt a true generational trend on the rise, says Douglas A. Boneparth, a financial advisor who specializes in HENRYs, or high-earning but not rich yet clients who draw big salaries but havent saved enough to be considered truly wealthy. However, he noted that credit debt is at a record high. The American consumer is unstoppable, he tells Fortune, adding that the notion of treat culture can have an anti-millennial bent: [Theres] this notion that these kids cant control their spending and will never retire because theyre getting a cup of coffee or breakfast out, but many of them are now approaching their 40s.
At the end of the day, if youre in control of your spending, Boneparth says a treat doesnt really make all that much of a difference. If a $3 cup of coffee in the morning is the thing that gets you through the day and youre working really hard, I dont think thats going to make or break your ability to achieve your financial goals compared to bigger items like a car or mortgage. In other words, go ahead and treat yo self.
Life is short, so we decided to buy that extremely cute dress
The pandemic might have jump started this more relaxed view of spending, if you ask Mark Sabino, a 26 year-old-product and ad designer from New York who sells jewelry and accessories on social media. Quarantine and economic uncertainty made thinking about the long-term fraught for many, he explains. Purchases became more about fixing the immediateHow can I cheer myself up right now, if only for a little while? he says.
Davis agrees, saying that quarantine showed just how short life is. So we decided to buy that extremely cute dress that went viral on Twitter, get a day pass, get that massage, eat that A5 wagyu with the lobster tail on the side, and go on that trip!
A diet coke can be the difference between a truly monotonous day and an okay one, a way of asserting agency over ones finances and life. Liat says that even before the pandemic she never brought her own lunch, instead looking forward to the escapism from an exploitative and underpaying job.
The only way I could get through the day was to have something to look forward to, a moment where I could leave the office and eat something that I couldnt makeand hadnt mademyself, she adds.
Such a mentality has become more pronounced as some workers had the flexible work schedule theyve enjoyed over the past couple of years taken away from them during a wave of return to office mandates. Theres a push for freedom in seeking a treat to shake up your schedule, seen in Gen Zs very similar penchant for snacking. Whether its trying something new you wouldnt have before, or splurging on the deluxe version of a product, if youre feeling like youve been stuck in a routine or a rut, its almost like your Sisyphean existential rebellion via artisanal ginger ale, says Sabino.
How it feels to not get yourself a little treat at the grocery store pic.twitter.com/Cd9s4fH9N9
(@marksnotnice) May 30, 2023
A little treat goes a long way
Treat culture recalls the larger phenomenon that journalist James Greig remarked upon in his essay Everyone needs to grow up for British lifestyles magazine Dazed: That young adults are becoming progressively more infantilized due to the adulthood denied to them by todays economy. It has a paralyzing effect, he argues. Sabino agrees, saying that part of whats happening is that our idea of what an adult is is changing radically, and its obvious that many adults in power have failed future generations. Davis says she loves the word treat for its youthful and fun nature and regards it as a somewhat healing way of accessing her inner child.
In 1899, economist and socialist Thorstein Veblens Theory of the Leisure Class surmised that all consumptive acts in a market economy are intended to signal a particular status. Young millennials and Gen Z are signaling through their treat consumption that theyre over itor they need a sugar rush to get through the day. Its an internet trend with long legs, because its not really a trend at all but rather a signal of greater disenchantment, if not discontent.
Treat culture is probably the product of more late-stage capitalism than the other way around, says Boneparth, adding that younger generations usually have a distrust of the financial system, and might have an even greater one in light of recent bank runs. But they and everyone else still need to participate in the game of capitalism to survive, he adds.
To be fair, Boneparth adds that many young people he works with are still planning for the future, citing those looking to save in the long term. Its hard to get ahead for all generations, he adds, saying he sees plenty of people who are very highly motivated and hardworking. Im not really buying into this notion [that] entire generations of young people are simply just fed up, but Im also not dismissing that there arent many, many people who feel like theres no way to win, he says, citing housing prices inexorable rise as a major stress.
The phrase treat culture itself is an acknowledgment of younger generations powerlessness in the face of macroeconomic trends, Sabino says, concluding that most people are self-aware enough to know its a fleeting fix for a much deeper problem.
No amount of abstaining from avocado toast will be enough for us to afford to buy houses when the cost of living has far outstripped wages for decades, so we may as well enjoy the little indulgences that make life pleasurable, explains Liat. Our economic prospects as a generation are so fucked that we may as well just live large to whatever degree we can afford.
