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|u/SvenTropics - 1 day
|
|An interesting case study on this is when we look at casinos when they
|were all being built in Vegas. What they found was that people gambling
|cash wouldn't gamble as much as people gambling chips. There's something
|disconnected about putting chips on a table that makes it seem like it's
|not real money. This was obviously before credit cards existed so they
|had to take people with cash coming in. For the slot machines now they
|do have currency accounts on your player card, and it's even more
|disconnected because it's just a number on a screen.
|u/axonxorz - 1 day
|
|>What they found was that people gambling cash wouldn't gamble as much
|as people gambling chips. There's something disconnected about putting
|chips on a table that makes it seem like it's not real money. This
|phenomenon is exploited by game MTX really badly. Level 1 was the
|digital disconnect. Level 2 was fiat payments for imaginary token
|currency. Level 2.5 is having multiple imaginary token types. Level
|3 is gambling with those imaginary tokens instead of straight spending
|them on things. Every layer removed from "cash" causes further loss
|in ability to stay rational about it.
|u/Zaptruder - 1 day
|
|What's important is that those tokens can be earnt via in game play
|or via purchase - providing the game makers with an out saying - you
|don't need to pay for anything... but it's certainly convenient for
|you and us if you do! In a game like Genshin Impact... you can
|actually get the lion's share of currency from engaging in the game
|consistently, rather than spending - unless you're willing to spend
|over a grand per annum. ... Which many players (of a much larger
|pool of players) are.
|u/politehornyposter - 16 hours
|
|On TikTok for example, you have exchangable tokens also.
|u/erwan - 1 day
|
|Yes, for the same reason on video games micro-transactions are usually
|not in $ or € but instead in "gems" or "v-bucks" or "points". The
|idea is that once your real money is converted into in-game money (and
|they'll encourage you to convert more with rebates), it feels like
|game money so you'll easily spend it.
|u/CheckOutUserNamesLad - 1 day
|
|This is weird to me because money in an account feels more out-of-reach
|to me, and cash feels like it's already spent.
|u/IvorTheEngine - 1 day
|
|My kids say the same. Their account balance is what's real, cash
|doesn't count. I wonder if it's a generational thing, depending
|whether you grew up with on-line banking?
|u/erwan - 1 day
|
|It probably depends if most of your expenses are cash or from your
|bank account directly. I live in Japan at a time where it was an
|all-cash society, every single expense I made was with cash. Even my
|phone bills were paid in cash at the local convenience store, and my
|rent was also injecting cash into a wire transfer machine. In this
|case yes, you know that spending your cash on small things means
|withdrawing more or earlier so it feels real. On the other hand
|when most spending is made by card, and what you look at is your
|bank account balance, cash is already out of that system so it feels
|more like free money that you can spend on whatever.
|u/CheckOutUserNamesLad - 22 hours
|
|That sure does resonate with my feelings about it.
|u/Corvus-Nox - 19 hours
|
|I got online banking in my early 20s so don’t know if you consider
|that “growing up with it” but I also feel same as above: Cash has
|already been spent. My bank balance is how much money I actually
|have. I think it’s more because I rarely pay for anything with cash
|nowadays so I don’t track it. But my bank balance I can track every
|time I spend or get a paycheque.
|u/financiallysoundcat - 1 day
|
|Same for me. I avoid carrying cash because I know I'll spend it way
|more easily than I would if I use my card/phone.
|u/LilJourney - 14 hours
|
|And I'm reverse - I carry cash because that's my spending money for
|the week. When it's gone, it's gone. So handing over $8 for a fast
|food meal creates some pain. And no way am I feeding $3 into a
|machine for some chips. The feeling of having cash left at the
|end of the week to treat myself (or not) with an ice cream or new
|book, etc is awesome. I mostly save it for future adventures, but
|having it in front of me as "proof" I was responsible for the week
|excites me.
|u/tomtomtomo - 1 day
|
|I think that is more uncommon than the opposite feeling that you have
|money at your fingertips with the tap of a card or, now, phone. I
|used to get $20 out and then see how long it would take to break it.
|It would stop me buying those little things.
|u/CheckOutUserNamesLad - 22 hours
|
|I wonder if it's because I almost never carry cash. My bank account
|balance is my reference for available money for bills and other
|expenses. Once it's out of the account, it can no longer pay the
|bills, so I might as well spend it at the first opportunity instead
|of taking more money out of the account. Maybe not the most
|rational approach.
|u/nuisanceIV - 18 hours
|
|I get the feeling. When I have cash it feels “spent” but on the other
|end it’s a lot easier for me to think before it leaves my hands.
|Sometimes it acts as a “mini savings account”. Like I have a $20
|sitting around in case I’m broke and need gas money to get to work.
|u/vapescaped - 11 hours
|
|For me it's economics. Cash converts to coins, which get lost. But a
|decent credit card with 2% cash back makes me more money than I had to
|begin with, and doesn't get stuck in my buddy's couch. 2% doesn't
|sound like much, but it definitely adds up over time. To each their
|own though. There's still a percentage of the world that despises the
|concept of a digital currency. Although I disagree, I can't blame them
|for feeling that way, and some people (no disrespect intended)
|struggle to get the hang of a credit based system.
|u/a_phantom_limb - 1 day
|
|I hate having to touch physical currency, and I do so as rarely as I can
|manage.
|u/JoeyJoeJoeSenior - 21 hours
|
|Then how do you get trace amounts of cocaine on your fingers?
|u/sm753 - 1 day
|
|Why do I need an emotional connection with money...? *"Money can be
|exchanged for goods and services"*...like that's it. Spending on a
|credit card feels no different than spending cash except it doesn't have
|the inconveniences of having to use cash.
|u/tomtomtomo - 1 day
|
|You don't need an emotional connection; it's subconscious.
|u/is0ph - 1 day
|
|My subconcious connection with cash is that I consider merchants who
|want to be paid in cash as tax cheaters.
|u/BLauren00 - 23 hours
|
|On the flip side, banks and payment processors make money off of
|every single card transaction. So much incentive for them to push
|to get rid of cash.
|u/OldManPip5 - 15 hours
|
|There’s nothing quite like the weight of some gold-pressed latinum in
|your pocket.
|u/Handsome_Claptrap - 17 hours
|
|Your brain unconciously notices the pattern that when you hand over a
|bill, you get an ice cream back, most desirable things can be linked
|to cash: the emotional connection isn't actually to cash, but to the
|goods and services. When you pay with a card, your human brain may
|think about what you spent, but your monkey brain doesn't, you don't
|get the primal feeling of loss, like with spending cash. I also think
|the issue is that you don't make experiences such as running out of
|cash, which also unconciously reinforce the concept "if you have no
|money, you can't get X, so never run out of money". You and i,
|however, have grown up in a world where cash was prevalent. I think
|things will turn more interesting when kids that have almost never
|interacted with cash will get adult.
|u/Bokbreath - 1 day
|
|This makes sense with cash vs bank accts because one is under your
|control and the other is not. I would have liked to see a
|differentiation between cash cards - which hold value on the card - and
|bank accts to see if this was the effect.
|u/mvea - 1 day
|
|I’ve linked to the press release in the post above. In this comment, for
|those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
|https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/qmr-04-2023-0049/ful
|l/html From the linked article: Physical cash not only influences how
|much we spend but also fosters a profound sense of psychological
|ownership that digital payments cannot replicate, according to research
|from the University of Surrey. In a paper published in Qualitative
|Market Research, researchers detail as cash fades from our wallets, so
|too does our awareness of spending, leading to impulsive and unnecessary
|purchases. The study suggests that maintaining a physical element in our
|payment systems may be vital for promoting responsible spending
|behaviours. Dr Jashim Khan, Associate Professor of Marketing and
|Director of International Business Management and lead-author of the
|study at the University of Surrey said: “The visceral nature of
|cash—its smell, feel, and the act of counting it—creates an emotional
|connection that digital payments lack. “When we handle cash, we are
|not just spending money; we are parting with a piece of ourselves.”
|u/Rocky_Vigoda - 1 day
|
|I use cash 90% of the time. There's no emotional attachment, I just
|spend less when I have physical money versus using my card.
|u/erwan - 1 day
|
|Do you live in a country where cash is widely used (like Germany or
|Japan), or do you live in a country where most people just use their
|credit card but you choose to use cash?
|u/Pachaibiza - 22 hours
|
|Me too. I carry high denomination notes because I don’t like to break
|them up which helps curb my spending on a whim.
|u/robot_ankles - 1 day
|
|>The research team conducted their study in two different cultures, and
|at very different times— New Zealand in 2013 and China in 2023. Yea,
|this has got be heavily dependent on culture and even socioeconomic
|standing since money is a conceptual tool to begin with. The paper has
|no value, it's what the paper represents. Same as the digits on my
|screen have no physical value -it's what those numbers represent: The
|ability to invest, acquire goods and services, help others and so on.
|From a single, personal data point; I can't imagine having any unique
|attachment to cash over other representations of wealth.
|u/cattleyo - 1 day
|
|Paper money has value, it's a debt instrument, an IOU from the
|government. Money in your bank account has the same kind of value; an
|abstract & intangible representation of value compared to an
|intrinsically useful physical thing that you might barter. The
|difference between paper money and electronic money is the paper is
|literally a physical thing; to spend it you pass it to someone else,
|hand to hand, a process even small children can understand. The value
|it represents is abstract but the paper money itself is physical.
|Spending electronic money involves a complex electronic process that
|most of us only partially understand. Edit: an IOU from the central
|bank, not the government
|u/robot_ankles - 1 day
|
|I can understand why some people would have a more emotional
|attachment to physical money over digital currency. And it's
|certainly easier for children to understand physical money. I'm just
|speculating that such an attachment might be more cultural or
|situational as I can't relate to that kind of psychological
|ownership. But it's possible my experience represents an outlier
|data point. I've been participating in the economy practically cash
|free for 10-20 years. I might go months or quarters without even
|seeing or touching a piece of physical money. In fact, I suspect I'm
|more emotionally attached to the digital currency I see on screens.
|About the only time I handle cash is just to have some walking-
|around tip money at special, recreational events like concerts,
|vacations, festivals, etc. It almost feels like play money. I tend
|to throw it around more freely than I would ever do with my "real"
|(digital) money.
|u/Low_Acanthisitta4445 - 1 day
|
|It's not so much an IOU from the government than an IOU from the
|central bank. The central bank also has nothing of "intrinsic
|value" other than another pile of IOUs. The central principal of
|most central banks is that they are totally autonomous from
|government.
|u/cattleyo - 1 day
|
|True it's an IOU from the central bank not the government, I stand
|corrected. The government is usually in debt to the central bank
|u/NuPNua - 1 day
|
|>Spending electronic money involves a complex electronic process
|that most of us only partially understand. Does it matter if the
|end result is the same? Value has moved from one entity to another.
|u/MiddleEasternWeeaboo - 1 day
|
|It's not really about it's pure practical use but more the the human
|feel of ownership when you can hold it in your hand. Or truly having
|your savings be in your possession in physical form. Maybe more like
|an instinctual feeling and how that changes how willing you are to
|risk throwing it away.
|u/Future-Tomorrow - 1 day
|
|Organically - I think this will change since there is a stat something
|along the lines of people born after X will never know a single day of
|their life, conscious or unconscious without being in touch with a
|digital product. The chart, in an office over 11 years ago illustrated
|the already shifting digital landscape. Artificially - Then, regardless
|of what the current studies say, you have a few shops here in Malaysia
|and it's even more so in Singapore and Japan, where they already refuse
|to take cash. No exceptions. One Famous Amos Cookies here in Bukit
|Bintang is the only one I'm aware of that will move this rule to allow
|you to pay in cash. Still, plenty of shops take cash but impressively,
|you can leave your room in Malaysia with just your phone and pay for
|everything via contactless payments. So whether people will want that
|nostalgia around physical money is one thing, but the train has already
|left the station in that digital money is on its way and nothing is
|going to stop it. If you understand or are in crypto and follow CDBCs
|you know this.
|u/NuPNua - 1 day
|
|>, you can leave your room in Malaysia with just your phone and pay
|for everything via contactless payments I can do that in London too
|and have been able to for years. Seemed pretty similar in India when I
|was there earlier this year except more QR code than NFC based. From
|what I can tell online, America is the outlier with some seriously
|dated card technology.
|u/Future-Tomorrow - 1 day
|
|Absolutely correct. Malaysia is not the only country by far, it's
|just where I'm currently based and one of the awesome things I
|noticed about here as it pertained to the topic and yes, having
|lived in America for 23 years they are for sure the outlier in the
|financial world and not just for cashless payments.
|u/NuPNua - 1 day
|
|It always puzzles me about the US, because a lot of these fintech
|innovations are coming from silicon valley companies, but they
|can't even get their own nation to sign up to them. I remember
|when I realised why YouTubers were all advertising these
|intermediary apps for money transfers as a lot of US customers
|banks don't let them do instant payments on their own app to other
|banks and was shocked.
|u/is0ph - 1 day
|
|I’ve seen a bakery in the UK with a "no cash" sign on the front. I
|think the UK went very strongly towards cashless during covid and
|didn’t go back.
|u/mickey5545 - 1 day
|
|i think this is one of the reasons we are so strapped for money a lot of
|times. you dont see it dwindle in your wallet.
|u/tifumostdays - 1 day
|
|Maybe if we have a visualization on our phones of where our income went,
|we would see ourselves drain from the discretionary pool and then move
|on to retirement, then monthly expenses, etc. it would make our spending
|more thoughtful.
|u/NuPNua - 1 day
|
|We do, most modern banking apps like Monzo give you a real time feed
|of what you've spent per day and you can tap that to go into your
|account and see your balance and statement.
|u/meontheinternetxx - 1 day
|
|Aren't those in almost every banking app and some third party apps
|these days? It's so much easier than with cash cause you can automate
|like ninety percent of the process. (I don't use this a lot so I
|don't have specific recommendations but there are definitely lots of
|options out there)
|u/tifumostdays - 21 hours
|
|Oh, yeah, you're probably right. I'm a Luddite. This and Firefox are
|basically the only apps I use.
|u/Batafurii8 - 1 day
|
|Same with shopping in stores, and reading from papers and books. More
|senses involved, more connections possible and relaxed proximal
|closeness with other citizens in a third space. Hmmmm
|u/Hayred - 1 day
|
|First up, let us appreciate the irony of this not being open access so
|folk without an institutional sub have to part with £29 in digital non-
|cash to read it. Second let us appreciate any paper that cites Scrooge
|McDuck and his fascination with the tactile sense of money (with *two*
|sources no less!) in the opening paragraph. My personal experience with
|going mostly cashless is actually a positive. I'm a very possessive and
|protective individual (having many siblings constantly trying to nick
|your stuff will do that to a kid) so when I have cash in hand, no, you
|can't have it its MINE. When it's on card though, wholly different.
|I've no longer got to fight my way through a psychological barrier to
|buy people gifts, give my friends and family big chunks of money, donate
|to charity at those "Do you want to round up your purchase?" prompts on
|a self-checkout, etc. That has a net positive effect on me and my
|psychological-social wellbeing! It feels better to have given 26p to the
|RSPCA than to have some bits of copper in my pocket, and it feels better
|to not have to wrestle with that guilt of "forgetting" a friend asked
|for a tenner, or it was someones birthday, etc.
|u/r0bb3dzombie - 1 day
|
|Not if you obsessively check your account balance. Watching money
|leaving your account it becomes very real, very quickly.
|u/TwoFlower68 - 21 hours
|
|What?!? Cash is super inconvenient. You need a billfold to carry it and
|all that loose change... Only old people still use cash
|u/CosmicLovecraft - 21 hours
|
|That is why evils wanna ban it.
|u/ArgonGryphon - 20 hours
|
|Interesting to see how that changes too with younger people who don’t
|often use cash.
|u/ExposingMyActions - 16 hours
|
|As usual, hardware is king. Hardware is more permanent than software
|u/Turdmeist - 9 hours
|
|Safe to say I wouldn't be handing over so many $20 bills to Besos.
|u/Underwater_Karma - 1 day
|
|If you ask anyone who has to handle cash for a living, they'll tell you
|the smell makes them nauseous
|u/reckaband - 1 day
|
|Cash money rules over things
|u/VironicHero - 23 hours
|
|Physical cash? I just give that to homeless people.
|