social media, flexing and why nft famous?

I just watched Rhenald Kasali's Youtube video which entitled “Inilah Kaya Boong-Boongan Yang Dipamerkan dan Dipercaya Milenial dan Ditiru Luas” (Fake Rich that Exhibited and Trusted by Millennials and Widely Imitated". A very long title among other videos on the Youtube platform. I didn’t look for the video on purpose, in fact I've never watched the video or to be more precise I never knew if Prof. Rhenald Kasali had a Youtube channel.

Rhenald Kasali is one of my idols, a mastermind in management. A science that seems simple but is very "related" to all aspects of life that we live. I remember, I used to always take the time to go to the bookstore to buy or at least skim through the books he published. Re-Code Your Change DNA is one of the books that I "devoured" around 2007-2008, that means it's been more than 10 years since I stopped "following" him. Apart from him, there are names like Ippho Santoso, Safir Senduk, Jaya Setiabudi, and others who have graced my imagination about management and entrepreneurship. Enough about them, I will discuss on another occasion in more detail, regarding my admiration for their thoughts.

Back to Rhenald Kasali's video. Inadvertently, I always nodded from the beginning to the end of the video with a duration of 20 minutes, as a sign that I agreed and agreed with the topic he was talking about. He talked about a new phenomenon about "Showing Off Wealth" or what is called "Flexing". His interest is related to the study of consumer behaviour. More specifically, the discussion is focused on poverty scream vs wealth whisper. In the current era, social media has become a key or weapon for world recognition regarding one's strata or position. This is especially the case in connection with the New Rich Explosion phenomenon. They need recognition for their existence, although on the other hand, as a motivation that everyone has the right to be "Rich". This need for recognition is realized or at least gets a stronger push if it is done through social media. More and more Youtube channels are discussing splendours, wealth, collections of luxury items and so on, so that everyone is slowly locked in a culture of hedonism. This is contrary to the custom of the "Old Rich Man". Those who have had the privilege of affluence for a long time tend to hide their identity, "ground" their style and lifestyle, so that almost no effort is needed to show that they are among the affluent. People who are already rich or in actual rich, quoting Rhenald Kasali's term, are embarrassed to talk about their wealth.

Flexing, now has become a trend (I do not sure to call it a disease). This is becoming increasingly or finding its place when we surf the virtual world on various social media platforms. Person A calls "ordinary" when spending billions to buy a sports car, branded bag or even a watch. Person B talks about his “fad” buying things at exorbitant prices because he is “sick or lazy”. And various other stories of hedonism, in the video Rhenald Kasali explained in the Consumption Behaviour Theory as conspicuous consumption or consumption that is deliberately shown to others. Currently flexing behaviour is something that is normal, in the name of giving motivation, for most people. This raises the potential for a shift in behaviour and outlook on life to become more materialistic. To prove this hypothesis, more in-depth research is needed to capture the portrait of changes in behaviour that tend to be considered negative. But it all comes back to each individual, how to translate this flexing phenomenon, is it a motivation to improve oneself and try or just to be a spectator.

With the phenomenon of flexing, there is a change in interpretation of "Rich". In the past, being rich was defined as abundant money, countless assets and tended not to be exposed. At that time, people knew that a person was rich without having to show his wealth, and even tended to "hidden" his existence from other people. This humility is no longer a culture for those who are just climbing the wealth strata. At least tend not to lead there. When someone hopes to be rich, what is needed is to "look rich and be recognized as rich" by others. This prestige obscures the theory that the rich are those whose status is not represented by what others see. Today's rich people are always going all out to show off what they have, what achievements have been achieved, as a form of proof and thirst for recognition by others. Among the lower class, this whip multiplies, imagining the ease, fame and various other privileges that are obtained by being among the affluent.

How does this relate to NFTs? This Non-Fungible Token suddenly rose to prominence during the pandemic. NFT is a digital asset in the form of works of art or collectibles. These artworks and collectibles include paintings, music art, in-game items, short videos, photos, and sound recordings. The popularity of NFTs trails behind cryptocurrencies, spiced up with memes and tweets from the technology magnate and world's number 1 richest man (at least as of this writing) Elon Musk. NFTs have been on the rise since 2014, but found their way to fame during the pandemic, where some rich people chose to "spend" their money by collecting digital artwork available on NFTs. NFTs have various advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that NFT guarantees the buyer to own the original item without anyone being able to imitate it and NFT includes a certificate of ownership as proof. However, the downside of NFTs is that they are difficult to trade. For some people, the concept of ownership like this is not included in their understanding, they even tend to make it up.

In Indonesia, the popularity of NFT is marked by the sale of selfie photos in digital form and traded in the digital world as well as digital ownership by what is known as "Ghozali Everyday" up to 13 billion rupiah. In the world, the most expensive NFT price of 91.8 million US dollars or the equivalent of 1.31 trillion went to a work entitled The Merge by Pak. NFTs can only be traded using crypto or digital currency, usually Ethereum. Ethereum is a decentralized computing platform that is used to run computer programs called smart contracts. As with Bitcoin, with Ethereum anyone can make digital money transfers without the help of intermediary institutions (banks or other financial institutions). In simple terms, Ethereum is a digital currency whose exchange rate is formed based on an agreement in a digital space without the intervention of certain institutions. Therefore, the rise and fall of this currency depends on market mechanisms. Currently. The value of the Ethereum currency is 46 million rupiah and once it has reached 60 million. Back to Ghozali's Everyday story, the digital “artwork” being traded is selfies taken every day since 2017. That's about it. Imagine a photo of someone who is not well-known at all, being valuable to someone else who doesn't even know the creator of the work. Billions of rupiahs of money are obtained from selling selfie photos, a very simple way to make money. This method is of course very suitable and "practical" for today's millennials who are presented with flexing shows and the like. This instant generation is certainly very interested in doing business with this NFT model. No need to work hard but easy and fast to get money. This is what causes NFT to become increasingly popular nowadays, and we cannot bend this phenomenon anymore. This is reinforced by the fact that there are not many rules of the game and binding legal rules in this NFT trade.

Technological progress is like a double-edged sword, its positives and negatives depend on who and how to use technological sophistication in everyday life. NFT as part of the phenomenon of technological progress has received attention and is popular today. A simple concept and method of earning income. Of course, there is still debate about the concept of having things that are physically intangible, but it is not impossible, in the future this will eventually become commonplace or ordinary. Flexing is another phenomenon from the sophistication of technology itself, especially in the world of social media. There is a shift in the notion of being rich, that nowadays people only tend to look rich and be recognized as rich by others, so he will desperately make use of his social media as a homepage to show strata. Whether flexing, social media and NFT are negative things, certainly requires further research and deepening.