摘要：月薪三千，犒赏自己三千八？Z世代为何沉迷“小额消费”？一边精打细算，一边为一杯咖啡、一块蛋糕豪掷千金——这代年轻人用“小小犒赏”对抗焦虑，却也陷入超支危机。《纽约时报》深入现象背后，探寻“ Treat Culture”如何成为一代人的双刃剑。是自我疗愈，还是财

有趣灵魂说

月薪三千，犒赏自己三千八？Z世代为何沉迷“小额消费”？一边精打细算，一边为一杯咖啡、一块蛋糕豪掷千金——这代年轻人用“小小犒赏”对抗焦虑，却也陷入超支危机。《纽约时报》深入现象背后，探寻“ Treat Culture”如何成为一代人的双刃剑。是自我疗愈，还是财务陷阱？答案或许比想象中更复杂。

译文为原创，仅供个人学习使用

The New York Times ｜The Front Page

纽约时报 | 头版

For Gen Z, ‘Little Treats’ Are Worth Going Over Budget

对Z世代而言，“小小犒赏”值得超支

Any excuse is good enough for young adults to treat themselves, whether it’s failing an exam, getting a “job well done” from a boss or simply washing the dishes.

年轻人总能找到各种理由犒赏自己，无论是考试失利、老板的一句“干得漂亮”，还是仅仅因为洗完了碗。

By Kailyn Rhone

Naomi Barrales, 25, has started to set aside money from her biweekly paychecks just for treats.Amir Hamja for The New York Times

25岁的娜奥米·巴拉莱斯开始从每两周的工资中专门留出一部分钱，用于这类犒赏。

《纽约时报》通讯员 阿米尔·哈姆贾 摄

娜奥米·巴拉莱斯最不想遇到的就是火车晚点30分钟。她还要花两个小时通勤回到新泽西州中部的家。为了打发时间，她决定犒赏自己两块纯素生日蛋糕口味的饼干。

这渐渐成了习惯。每当25岁的巴拉莱斯——一位时尚品牌的营销助理——在工作中遇到好事，比如得到老板的称赞或成功完成一次演示，她都会用同样的饼干犒赏自己。后来，她又把一种售价1.5美元的波普西饮料加入了自己的甜品犒赏清单。她说，即使办公室自动售货机的波普西卖光了，本地熟食店的价格翻倍，她也不介意，因为她觉得自己值得。

“这是我可以拥有且无需多想的东西，”巴拉莱斯说，“我不必斤斤计较。”

她以及Z世代的许多其他人都拥抱了“ 犒赏文化 ”——这种沉迷于小额奢侈享受的习惯，比如一杯12美元的超大杯咖啡、一份5美元的烘焙甜点，或一个30美元的名为拉布布的钥匙扣玩偶，用以奖励自己或进行自我关爱，即便这些犒赏超出了他们的预算。根据美国银行“更好理财习惯”团队对近1000名Z世代成年人的一项新调查，尽管许多Z世代感到财务上没有安全感，但超过一半的人表示他们每周至少会给自己买一次小犒赏。

用犒赏来应对压力或庆祝成功的概念——这已存在了好几代人——在2011年因电视剧《公园与游憩》的一集而获得流行文化关注，剧中角色以“犒赏自己”为口号庆祝了一个放纵日。

Z世代与前几代人不同之处在于，他们围绕这一传统建立了一个线上社区，并在社交动态中将其推广为在不确定时期关爱心理健康的一种方式。在TikTok上，他们分享考试失利或做完家务后最新的“小小犒赏”收获，或者仅仅是为了炫耀炫耀性消费。

TikTok上的标签“甜蜜小犒赏梗”已衍生出超过2300万条视频。代际研究员、《Z经济》一书的合著者杰森·多西表示，这已成为一种共享的、常态化的且备受推崇的体验，鼓励他人放纵一下，或至少感到被包容。

多西说， 随着成本上升、就业市场不稳定以及像购房这样的财务里程碑对许多年轻人来说遥不可及 ， 小额消费为Z世代提供了一种暂时的掌控感或放纵感 。

“如果我完成了学业却在职场中无所适从，我也会带自己出去犒赏一下，”波士顿大学奎斯特罗姆商学院教授格雷戈里·斯托勒说，他每周收到超过五封学生寻求求职建议的电子邮件。

但这些犒赏虽然能带来短暂的快乐，如果预算管理不当，也可能导致超支。大约每周犒赏自己三次、持续一个月后，营销助理巴拉莱斯注意到她的活期存款账户比往常少了大约50美元。这足以让她警铃大作。

“起初觉得没什么，因为心想‘哦，才6美元，无所谓’，”巴拉莱斯说，“但它会累积，那时就开始侵蚀我的财务了。”

根据美国银行的调查，在购买犒赏品的Z世代中，59%的人表示这会导致超支。斯托勒说， “先买后付”应用和即时配送服务让冲动消费比以往任何时候都更容易 。他补充说，这些“小小犒赏”通常是在面包店或服装店等地方一时冲动购买的。

安吉丽娜面包店的老板托尼·帕克表示，Z世代在他业务从五年前的两家店扩张的过程中扮演了重要角色，该店在曼哈顿及周边拥有八家分店。他利用这一代人的犒赏文化，推出了吸引眼球的产品，比如30美元的巨型牛角包和顶部可燃烧以露出隐藏信息的蛋糕。

帕克说，每周光顾他店的11000名顾客中，超过一半是Z世代。他沉思道，年轻人银行账户里可能没多少钱，但“他们愿意为体验花钱”。

然而，一开始是3美元的牛角包，可能很快滚雪球变成200美元的购物狂欢或音乐会前排门票。对23岁的安吉丽娜·艾琳来说，是价值350美元的自我关爱补充剂。

23岁的安吉丽娜·艾琳用价值350美元的补充剂犒赏自己，作为一种自我关爱的方式。

《纽约时报》詹姆斯·埃斯特林 摄

2023年从宾夕法尼亚大学毕业后，她在纽约市找到了第一份工作，想象着自己会过上像霍尔马克电影般的生活：新公寓、令人兴奋的金融分析师职业，以及去北部的徒步旅行。

但工作的期望和持续关注职业发展的压力开始让她不堪重负。艾琳说，工作中其他所有人似乎都蒸蒸日上，所以她认为问题出在自己身上。为了解决问题，她开始改变日常习惯，比如跳过每日的咖啡因摄入，她认为这导致了她情绪波动。

但这并没有奏效。所以当她最喜欢的一位YouTube博主大力推荐一种补充剂方案时，她决定试一试，购买了一些据说有助于缓解焦虑和提升能量的补充剂。

一个月后，当订阅盒再次开始送达时，艾琳感到了懊悔。她迅速取消了一些订阅，并采用了更温和的自我关爱方式，比如每月下班后做两次美甲或按摩这样的小犒赏。

这些犒赏让她保持踏实。“这让我感觉更有准备去面对某些事情，”现在是一家美容公司产品开发经理的艾琳说。

阿兰尼斯·卡斯特罗-帕切科也在2022年大二时冲动地加入了犒赏文化。在她与七位室友同住的校园宿舍里，关系紧张。一位室友经常带伴侣过来，不顾他人的不适。

22岁的阿兰尼斯·卡斯特罗-帕切科用信用卡购买了一把500美元的贝斯吉他和放大器，让自己感觉好些。虽然最初对购买感到后悔，但通过上吉他课，她正在充分利用它。

《纽约时报》玛吉·香农 摄

为了寻求解脱，卡斯特罗-帕切科去了她家乡宾夕法尼亚州伊诺拉的一家吉他店。一时兴起，她用信用卡花了大约500美元买了一把贝斯吉他和一个放大器。她立即对购买感到后悔，但圣诞节的礼金和学会演奏红辣椒乐队的《加州情歌》缓解了打击。

“直到今天，我还在房间里看到它，我就会想，‘好吧，我需要物有所值，’”卡斯特罗-帕切科说。她现在22岁，最近开始上每两周75美元的吉他课。

她对犒赏的看法已经转变：从一种应对工具变成了一种庆祝形式。为了纪念七月在一家社交媒体公司担任战略合作伙伴经理的新工作开始，她最近买了一个蔻驰托特包，升级了之前在塔吉特买的托特包。

美国银行消费者、零售及优先客户业务总裁霍莉·奥尼尔建议， 任何参与犒赏文化的人都应考虑设定一个现实的预算，或寻找更可持续的替代方案 ，比如从图书馆借书，这样它就不会变得冲动或导致超支 。

对巴拉莱斯来说，甜品犒赏现在已成为预算的一部分。她每两周从工资中留出25美元用于此。

“我有时会超出甜品犒赏预算吗？是的，我会，”她说，“但了解自己的习惯后，我不如就围绕着这个习惯来安排。” ◾

The last thing Naomi Barrales needed was a 30-minute train delay. She had a two-hour commute home to central New Jersey ahead of her. To kill time, she decided to treat herself to two vegan birthday cake cookies.

It became a ritual. Whenever Ms. Barrales, a 25-year-old marketing associate for a fashion label, had a good day at work, like receiving a compliment from her boss or nailing a presentation, she treated herself to the same cookies.Later, she added a $1.50 Poppi drink to her list of sweet treats. Even if the office vending machine was out of Poppi and the local deli charged double, she didn’t mind, she said, because she deserved it.

“It’s something that I can just have and not think about,” Ms. Barrales said. “I don’t have to pinch my pennies.”

She and many others in Generation Z have embraced “treat culture,” the habit of indulging in small luxuries, like a $12 jumbo-size coffee, a $5 baked dessert or a $30 key-ring doll called the Labubu, to reward themselves or practice self-care, even if the treats are outside their budgets. Although many Gen Z-ers do not feel financially secure, more than half say they buy themselves a small treat at least once a week, according to a new surveyof nearly 1,000 Gen Z adults from Bank of America’s Better Money Habits team.

The concept of using treats to cope or celebrate — which has been around for generations — gained pop culture traction in 2011 with a television episode of“Parks and Recreation” in which characters celebrated a day of pampering with the motto “Treat Yo Self.”

What sets Gen Z-ers apart from generations before them is how they have built an online community around the tradition, promoting it on their social feeds as a way to care for their mental health during uncertain times. On TikTok, they have shared their latest “little treat” hauls after failing an exam or doing chores, or just to show off conspicuous consumption.

The TikTok tag “sweet little treat meme” has resulted in more than 23 million videos. It has become a shared, normalized and celebrated experience that encourages others to indulge or at least feel included, said Jason Dorsey, a generational researcher and a co-author of the book “Zconomy.”

With rising costs, a shaky job marketand financial milestones like homeownershipfeeling out of reach for many young adults, small purchases offer Gen Z a temporary sense of control or indulgence, Mr. Dorsey said.

“If I finished my own schooling and wasn’t getting anywhere in the work force, I would bring myself out for a treat as well,” said Gregory Stoller, a professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business,who receives more than five emails a week from students seeking job advice.

But while these treats can offer quick hits of joy, they also could lead to overspending if budgets are not properly managed. After about a month of treating herself three times a week, Ms. Barrales, the marketing associate, noticed her checking account was around $50 lower than usual. It was enough to ring alarm bells for her.

“At first, it was harmless, because it was like, ‘Oh, it’s just $6, whatever,’” Ms. Barrales said. “But it compounds, and that’s when it starts eating into my finances.”

Of those Gen Z-ers who buy treats, 59 percent say it leads to overspending, according to the Bank of America survey. “Buy now, pay later” apps and instant-delivery services make it easier than ever to spend impulsively, Mr. Stoller said. Often, these “little treats” are bought in the spur of the moment at stores like bakeries or clothing shops, he added.

Tony Park, owner of Angelina Bakery, which has eight bakeries in and near Manhattan, said Gen Z-ers had played a major role in the growth of his business from two locations five years ago. He leans into the generation’s treat culture with eye-catching products like $30 giant croissants and cakes that have burnable topsrevealing hidden messages.

More than half of his 11,000 weekly customers are Gen Z, Mr. Park said. Young adults may not have much money in their bank accounts, he mused, but “they will spend money on the experience.”

What starts as a $3 croissant, however, can quickly snowball into a $200 shopping splurge or front-row tickets to a concert. For Angelina Aileen, 23, it was $350 worth of self-care supplements.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 2023 and landing her first job in New York City, she imagined living out her own Hallmark movie: new apartment, exciting career as an financial analyst and hiking getaways upstate.

But expectations from work and pressure to continuously check in on her professional growth started to overwhelm her. Everyone else at her job seemed to be thriving, Ms. Aileen said, so she assumed the problem was her. In an effort to fix things, she began to alter her routine, like skipping her daily caffeine, which she believed was giving her mood swings.

But that didn’t work. So when one of her favoriteYouTubers raved about a supplement routine, she decided to give it a try, buying supplements that were supposed to help with anxiety and energy.

A month later, when the subscription boxes began arriving again, Ms. Aileen felt buyer’s remorse. She quickly canceled some subscriptions and adopted a gentler approach to self-care, doing smaller treats like a manicure or massage twice a month after work.

These treats keep her grounded. “It makes me feel more ready to face something,” Ms. Aileen said, now a product development manager for a beauty company.

Alanis Castro-Pacheco also jumped into treat culture impulsively, during her sophomore year of college in 2022. In the campus dorm where she lived with seven roommates, tensions ran high. One roommate frequently brought her partner over despite others’ discomfort.

Seeking relief, Ms. Castro-Pacheco visited a guitar shop in Enola, Pa., her hometown. On a whim, she bought a bass guitar and an amp for around $500 with her credit card. She immediately regretted the purchase, but Christmas money and learning how to play the song “Californication” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers eased the blow.

“Till this day, I still see it in my room, and I’m like, ‘OK, I need to get my money’s worth,’” Ms. Castro-Pacheco said. She is now 22 and recently started taking $75 biweekly guitar lessons.

Her view on treats has shifted: Once a coping tool, they are now a form of celebration. She recently bought a Coach tote bag to mark the start of a new job in July as a strategic partnerships manager at a social media company, upgrading from a tote bag she had bought at Target.

Holly O’Neill, president of consumer, retail and preferred at Bank of America, recommends that anyone participating in treat culture consider setting a realistic budget or finding more sustainable alternatives, like borrowing a book from a library, so it doesn’t become impulsive or lead to overspending.

For Ms. Barrales, sweet treats are now part of a budget. She sets aside $25 every two weeks from her paychecks.

“Do I go over the sweet treat budget at times? Yes, I do,” she said. “But understanding what my habit is, I might as well just work around that habit.”

来源：左右图史