Americans Are 'Doom Spending' Due to Stress: How Can It Be Avoided?

Americans are being increasingly bombarded with messages of woe and unease, particularly in an era where the 24/7 news cycle dominates. The proliferation of social media, digital media coverage, and the fact that nearly everyone carries a smartphone capable of receiving pessimistic content within reach at all times may be exacerbating individuals' exposure to negativity, and consequences are emerging.

According to a recent Intuit Credit Karma report, a majority of respondents (60%) are "concerned with the current state of the world and economy," with the current cost of living (at 55%) and persistent inflation (43%) being singled out as the most prominent sources of worry. Facing down unaffordable housing costs (21%), wages not keeping up with the cost of living (21%), and foreign affairs such as war (14%) also made the list.

Doom Spending: What Is It, and Who Is Participating in It?

According to the report, 27% of Americans are coping with this stress by "doom spending." With Intuit Credit Karma defining doom spending as "spending money despite concerns about the economy and foreign affairs" for the purposes of its study, it seems to be at least somewhat related to the much older concept of retail therapy. However, as Lifehacker writer Jeff Somers recently suggested, there is a significant gulf between the two concepts.

"Retail therapy is typically used to assuage a negative experience — a bad day at work or a bruising breakup. While it might not be the healthiest way to deal with a temporary setback, it usually ends once you get past the acute pain of the moment. Doom spending, on the other hand, is driven by a persistent sense of, well, doom. There’s never any end to it because the future is always bleak and always some unknown time away," Somers wrote.

If doom spending represents some form of deeper anxiety about the current state of affairs, who exactly is expressing their persistent stress by engaging in the practice?

Per Intuit Credit Karma's data, younger Americans are more likely to doom spend than the public as a whole. The study indicated that 37% of Gen Zers polled and 39% of millennial respondents doom spend to cope with stress, compared to 27% of all Americans surveyed. Out of all respondents, 40% also said that they currently doom spend more than they did last year.

Reasons for Doom Spending (and the Repercussions)

Americans polled by Intuit Credit Karma pointed to tech-related reasons for their doom spending habits — receiving bad news online chief among these. A full 53% of respondents indicated that they were "constantly" receiving bad news online, with 44% of these self-identifying as being "chronically online." Further, a whopping 70% of Gen Z respondents indicated that they were chronically online, as did 52% of millennials polled.

Driving the above points home, more than one-third of those surveyed (34%) said they'd "spend less money if they cut back on their screen time."

Doom spending threatens serious financial repercussions for those who do so. As CNN Business reported, doom spending is at least partially responsible for driving up credit card debt — sobering news considering that U.S. credit card debt recently reached yet another record high ($1.17 trillion) during the third quarter, per the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

How Can Doom Spending Be Avoided?

While doom spending may be a natural response to stress, experts suggest that there are several methods to cut back on engaging in the practice.

Somers suggested attacking the root of the problem by seeking help for your mental and emotional health challenges.

"Think about the triggers pushing you to doom spend. If it’s anxiety about the future, redirecting your money into savings might offer peace of mind because you’ll have the resources to handle what might be coming. If it’s the endless supply of bad news and terrifying developments in the world, staying away from social media feeds, at least for a while, can break the cycle," Somers explained, also promoting the notion of seeking professional help or guidance if necessary.

Aja Evans, a financial therapist and author of “Feel Good Finance,” emphasized unplugging from internet culture, per CNN Business.

"You literally need to go outside sometimes. Be in nature and just remind yourself that there is a world beyond the screen,” Evans said.

Financial educator and author Giovanna González had similarly concise advice for those zeroed in on doom spending: Make it harder to spend your hard-earned cash. She warned that today's retailers had modernized payment systems so effectively that spending money was as easy as "waving your phone over a store reader" or "paying with a few quick clicks on your laptop."

Instead, as Charles Schwab senior content director Matthew Wright joined González in saying, it may be time to simply remove your payment methods from easy reach.

"Give yourself a chance to think a bit about your possible purchases by removing any credit card information you’ve stored with online retailers and switching to cash for in-store purchases. The process of typing in your credit card information or digging through your wallet can help you recognize the impact of your spending more acutely and really think through whether the purchase makes sense," Wright suggested.