As we established in our last blog entry (It’s a matter of life and debt…) debt amongst youth is at an all time high (or is that low?). If you are inclined to believe the media the reason for the red is the environment we have grown up in, a world where being significantly in debt is accepted as the norm. Yes, this is a good point and was very relevant a couple of years ago, however Tech Tribe tells us that this attitude is beginning to change, 60% of our Tech Tribe respondents disagree that “debt is fine because everyone else is in it too”.

This swing in overall mindset can be put down to everybody’s best friend, the recession; however the economic downturn has not altered everything. Day-to-day spending habits have not changed significantly with only 50% of respondents actively looking for ways to save money now we are in a recession. Even more surprising is the loyalty to credit cards with only 26% starting to save rather than buying on credit cards and just 22% reducing credit card limits to try and curb spending!

The ability to spend in any situation is, we think, due to 2 things - for those with the highest levels of debt, they are in so deep already that they feel any changes they make are unlikely to make any significant difference to their situation – again it comes down to getting that well paid job. For others, it is a ‘what can I do?’ situation. The recession is too big to handle – it’s a macro level thing, which is going to affect everybody. It’s almost too big and scary to comprehend on a day-to-day level, so whilst there is an ability to sweep debt under the carpet, the spending will continue.

Tags: Money, Recession, Tech Tribe