Why Your Brain Becomes a Worse Financial Decision-Maker Every Time You Open Instagram

Nobody opens a feed to make a financial decision. But a feed is a place where small ones happen all the time: a click, a saved item, a quick purchase, a plan to book something. The question worth asking is not whether scrolling is bad. It is what state it leaves you in.

Three things a feed tends to do

It sets the bar. A steady flow of other people’s trips, rooms and purchases slowly shifts what feels normal. What looked like a lot yesterday looks ordinary today.

It speeds you up. A feed rewards a quick reaction. Careful, slow thinking is the opposite of what it trains, and slow thinking is what money decisions usually need.

It sits next to a buy button. The distance between an idea and a purchase can be a few taps. Friction is one of the main things that gives us time to change our minds, and a feed is built to reduce it.

It is not that the feed makes you foolish. It makes the foolish option closer.

For people who think carefully

If you are the kind of person who compares and checks, you may assume you are immune. Careful thinkers are often the most affected by tiredness, because their usual strength is exactly what tiredness takes away first. A long scroll can spend the same resource you use for careful decisions.

What people tend to find useful

• Noticing which decisions you make while scrolling, and which you make at a desk
• Letting a saved item sit for a day before it becomes a purchase
• Keeping money tools out of the same place you scroll
• Asking, in the moment, what you were feeling just before you opened the app

None of these is a rule. They are ways of getting some of the friction back.

Fingene Insights is educational and descriptive. Nothing here is investment, tax or legal advice, and nothing recommends any stock, fund or financial product.