There’s a new type of content doing the rounds on social media and it’s known as ‘RichTok’ – but it may come with negative connotations according to psychologist Dr Louise Goddard-Crawley
While it’s good to have ambition, TikTok’s latest ‘RichTok’ trend may be warping people into believing in unrealistic lifestyles, according to a psychologist.
Distorting what’s real and what isn’t can lead people to feeling as if they aren’t achieving as they should, and it could be negatively impacting people’s minds.
For example, TikToker Becca Bloom frequently shares videos of her lavish and luxurious lifestyle, dining on caviar for breakfast, unboxing several Hermes boxes, and showing off huge diamond rings and Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery to her four million followers.
For some, they may think this is real life, and according to chartered psychologist Dr Louise Goddard-Crawley, this new fad of RichTok has “taken the old idea of aspiration and made it feel normal, something you should achieve, as though we’re watching peers rather than celebrities.”
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She told The Mirror: “Because it looks raw and unfiltered, people are more likely to compare themselves directly to these influencers, forgetting that what they’re seeing is still highly curated.
“For some, it could spark ambition, but for many of us, it distorts the sense of what’s normal and creates a constant feeling of falling short. And I really think that that’s a recipe for anxiety, low self-worth, and compulsive spending.”
Millennials and Gen Z are already accustomed to erratic spending, buying into fashion trends such as Labubu’s and other viral products. Now influencers are showing off their wealth, ditching the ‘quiet luxury’ trend and instead boldly boasting their designer goods and lifestyles.
RichTok influencers have gained a fandom for documenting their expensive and lavish indulgences not through polished brand campaigns, but as genuine high-paying consumers instead.
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Dr Goddard-Crawley noted how those watching these influencers are falling into the social media trap. These lifestyles show we we are no longer comparing ourselves to a few people in our community, but to an infinite, global feed of curated success and beauty instead.
And the result could be a chronic sense of inadequacy, even among those who are objectively doing well, the expert added. “Social comparison has always served a purpose. It helped us gauge our status and belonging within a group, which in turn ensured survival. The problem is that social media has exaggerated this instinct beyond anything our brains evolved to manage.”
She also suggested how there is something more subtle at play with RichTok content as it seems to tap into early, and often unconscious envy, admiration and idealisation. As these videos can offer temporary relief from feelings of emptiness or uncertainty, creating a fantasy of wholeness and control.
But Dr Goddard-Crawley said the more we consume them, the “more that fantasy collapses” leaving people oscillating between admiration and resentment. She said the most concerning part is that this culture risks “hollowing out our shared value system” and can make people become “achievement-based” in their self-worth.
Meaning that people may only value what can be displayed or measured, rather than qualities that are universally accessible, such as kindness, integrity, and emotional generosity. “Perhaps the danger is not wealth itself, but the vacuum it creates when status becomes our main language of meaning,” the expert concluded.
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