Growing up in New England, some of the values we learned as kids were not to show off. Showing off was a bad thing. Showing off wasn’t polite and it could make others feel bad. In public schools and on army bases around the country, we shared classrooms with kids from all different economic statuses. Your dad might be a major but your best friend’s dad was a corporal.
Kid’s from poorer households can be scarred for life when made to feel inferior. I know from my own family, my father-in-law grew up poor and later when he started working adopted an outfit that he perceived to show success – a blue striped button-down collar shirt and khakis. He had a closet full of these shirts.
As a kid, he had holes in his shoes but as an adult he worked, scrimped, and save to reach a level of success that he didn’t have growing up. He is also obsessed with knowing what people make for a salary and how much things cost. It just shows how deeply economic status is drilled into our brains.
Now we have social media where everyone is always “flexing” about their possessions, toys, clothes, and vacations.
The act of bragging about money-related things, such as about how much money you have, or about expensive possessions like designer clothing.
Urban Dictionary
Some of the worst places for flexing I’ve found are hobby sites. On photography-related sites people brag about their cameras, lenses, having the latest gizmo.
I see it on my pinball hobby site, pictures of ridiculous collections of pinball machines. It’s already an expensive hobby but then people start more threads to flex about things unrelated to pinball. They flex about whiskey, cigars, cars, and even lawns. Somehow lawns have evolved into something to brag about.
Maybe someday we’ll evolve to the point where people “flex” about volunteering or donating to charity rather than showing off clothes and handbags.