re: Cost of living an inflation is bad, so why do people keep doing useless things

First, I'm old.
Second, I've been frugal most of my life.

Third: This (IMO) all started when people had video cameras and could make family movies. Those movies were seldom ever edited, and because they were free-ish (no cost of processing the film) individual birthday parties could be three or four tapes, to be labeled, and put in order on a shelf, To sit there forever.

So you must have pictures. Your pictures are crap. So you hire some dude with a camera that costs more than yours.

And on and on.

My gripe is the number of people who die doing things for their bucket list, or to keep up with the Joneses, or to put on their social media. Things that didn't need doing, places that didn't need visiting, things that won't make them smarter, nicer, or increase the quality of their lives which they shortened for very shallow reasons.