or is it Just Exposing the Truth?
Let’s be honest: we’ve all been there. You open your banking app to “just check something,” and five minutes later, you’re spiraling because your savings looks more like a typo than a balance. Meanwhile, Amazon swears you need a heated blanket for your cat (you don’t even have a cat).
So here’s the question of the hour: Is tech making us bad with money… or just showing us how bad we’ve always been?
Tech: The Enabler or the Exposer?
Gone are the days of waiting for your monthly bank statement in the mail and pretending ignorance was bliss. Now, every swipe, tap, and “Buy Now with 1-Click™” decision is tracked in real-time. Financial apps cheer when you save $10 and throw passive-aggressive shade when you spend $12 on coffee. (“That’s 48% of your daily food budget, Jessica.” OKAY, CHILL.)
But here’s the kicker: tech isn’t making you spend money—it’s just making it easier to see what you’re actually doing.
The Illusion of Control
Many of today’s budgeting apps and digital banks promise to help you take control of your finances. But do they? They just give you more colorful charts to stress over. Tech didn’t invent impulse spending. It just made it as easy as scrolling through TikTok while your brain whispers, “you deserve it.”
Before tech:
You had to physically go to a store, find the item, stand in line, and maybe decide it wasn’t worth it.
Now:
Add to cart. Tap. Done. The dopamine hit is immediate, and your wallet barely had a chance to flinch.
Blame the Algorithm (But Not Really)
Algorithms know what you want before you do. You clicked on a shoe ad once in 2018, and now your feed is a full-blown sneaker boutique. Is it manipulation? Maybe. Is it magic? Definitely. But here’s the thing: the algorithm didn’t make you click “add to cart”—you did. (Well, you and your midnight craving for new kicks.)
So maybe it’s not tech making us worse with money. Maybe tech is just a brutally honest mirror. And like any mirror, it reflects both your best and your messiest moments.
So… Now What?
Tech isn’t going away. And let’s be real—we don’t want it to. (Please don’t take our auto-pay or Apple Pay. We have standards.)
Instead of blaming the tools, maybe it’s time to use them better. And Jelli can help you do just that. Create a Jar that you can use for those impulse buys. Set a budget for it and each paycheck you will have a certain amount to spend on those impromptu things you need (or think you need). Or save it over time and buy that one big thing that you want.
Every time, and I mean every time, you see something you want to buy, first check your “Gotta Have it Now” Jar. If the balance isn’t sufficient to cover the cost, don’t buy it.
If you always follow this simple rule, you will never buy something you can’t afford. It doesn’t mean you won’t buy something you don’t need. That is left up to you. But at least you’ll be able to pay for it.
