Imagine you're in a massive auditorium with 362 million Indians.

🙏🏼 Good Morning 🌞 Imagine you're in a massive auditorium with 362 million Indians. Every age. Every income level. Every social class. And one by one, each person gets to walk on stage and show off ONE thing about their life. The billionaire shows his Rolls Royce. The college student shows her new iPhone. The maid shows her daughter's wedding. The startup founder shows his "unicorn" announcement. The retired uncle shows his Goa vacation. Everyone watching. Everyone comparing. Everyone feeling something. This is Instagram. Here's what makes Instagram different from every social space in history: In real life, you only compare yourself to people in your circle. Your classmates. Your colleagues. Your neighbors. Your relatives. Maybe 50-100 people total. On Instagram, your comparison group just became 1 million people. The delivery guy compares himself to Ranveer Allahbadia. The teacher compares herself to Komal Pandey. The CA compares himself to startup founders. The 25,000/month guy watches: • Millionaire's Maldives trip • Friend's new car • Colleague's promotion • Influencer's brand deal His brain does this: "Everyone's winning except me." "I'm 28 and still here." "What am I doing wrong?" "Maybe I should take that loan for the car." The Most Brutal Part: In real life: Poor people knew they were poor. Rich people knew they were rich. Middle class knew they were middle class. Everyone stayed in their lane because they couldn't see other lanes. On Instagram: Everyone sees everyone. The lanes disappeared. Result: Middle class feels poor (comparing to rich) Rich feel inadequate (comparing to richer) Poor feel invisible (nobody's watching their stage performance) For the first time in history, every social class is forced to watch every other social class perform their best life. And it's making everyone miserable. This is the psychological experiment nobody consented to. But here's where it gets darker. That 25,000/month guy watching everyone else's highlight reel? He doesn't just feel poor. He feels like he's falling behind. And when you feel like you're falling behind, you don't save money. You spend it. To catch up. Result: In 2024, India's personal loan market hit 710 lakh crores Credit card debt is at an all-time high. Buy Now Pay Later is exploding. People aren't spending more because they're earning more. They're spending more because they're comparing more. It's not aspiration. It's desperation. The psychological cost of being "left out" now exceeds the financial cost of the EMI. Instagram made invisibility more expensive than debt. Have a flying day ✈️