Semi-random thought about the article on middle class people who can not afford a $400 emergency a few days ago[0], media creates remarkably unrealistic expectations. In that article someone estimated that one needs $100k - $150k for a middle class live. Or rather for the expectations of a middle class live.<p>An example is people tweeting food, if you follow thirteen people who post pictures of their lunch, then you will only have a comparatively good lunch once every two weeks. (And that is only if you don&#x27;t follow people whose job is to post amazing food.) Similar, TV is full of people who complain about being poor sitting in an apartment with Hudson river view. ( It does not help, that the apartment looks like it was designed by an $5000&#x2F;hr interior designer, because the director wanted it to look good and hired an $5000&#x2F;hr interior designer.)<p>Basically this is a variant of Charlie Stross&#x27;s idea, that news acts as a depressant, because that is the kind of news that sells. ( And is usually a lot easier to write.) Old-media is full of the kind of middle class existence that is at three times the median income, while social media means that the expectation is to keep up on average with the maximum of your peers (because only the best is posted).<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=11527523" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=11527523</a><p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.antipope.org&#x2F;charlie&#x2F;blog-static&#x2F;2013&#x2F;04&#x2F;psa-ignore-the-news.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.antipope.org&#x2F;charlie&#x2F;blog-static&#x2F;2013&#x2F;04&#x2F;psa-igno...</a>