1 Dollar = 1 Care
The perverse expansion of substituting interpersonal care with cash
“Thank you for what you do, stay safe ❤” reads the globally broadcasted description of a transaction over Venmo, the preeminent currency exchange platform that is readily accessible for so many consumers. Humorously nested between other broadcasted transactions for a “massage therapy session” and “a lot of liquor”, the note references the recipient’s contributions as a medical professional working amidst COVID-19. The status update indicates a small donation from an appreciative friend to a front line worker they want to support during troubling pandemic circumstances.
This type of instant donation made possible through personalized currency exchanges has become status quo. Offering support, paying respect, or sending a message to some has always been an intentional act of camaraderie and has often historically associated with money. Donations and gifts manifest as the physical symbols of care, even when their effects are of questionable consequence. Giving money to individuals often solely functions as emblematic support from the donor whether the recipient needs the finances or not. Recently at my large consulting firm, the family of a firm Partner who passed away had a GoFundMe campaign set up for them that received over $100,000 in donations in less than a week. The wealthy circumstances of a vested owner in a multi-billion dollar corporation are no secret. Yet the evaluation of financial circumstances is suspended in the age of donations qua care. Expressing emotional support by way of financial support has been fully throttled through the ease of using online payment platforms.
Meandering through the startup economy are a series of payment platforms that have fully blended into the glowing backgrounds of our social media leviathans. Companies that began as crowdsourced options for innovation like GoFundMe and Kickstarter have molted into grotesque organs of self-promotion. The evolution of GoFundMe from an enterprising sponsorship service has been unsettling for many, as the bounds of what’s considered a “worthy cause” have been drawn and quartered. Virtue signaling also finds a home in other peer-to-peer focused cash exchanges such as Venmo, Zelle, and Cash App. A strange alteration has occurred in the digital milieu as the expansion of these services has continued. By embedding the exchange of money into the online discourse occurring on Facebook and Twitter, these crowdfunding organizations have created new precedents for signaling to peers. The transfer of money is a new method of leveling up in the competition to care deeply about every single thing one sees on the internet, all the time. It adds a new lever to the social gestures obliged in situations where care must be demonstrated. This is a lever that is directly tied to the financial circumstances of a person, which of course has no direct tie to their competence as a friend, their sympathy, or their consideration.
The vacuity of using money as the solution to all problems (not just financial) is made stark in the donations to celebrities and the overtly rich. Donations of hundreds of thousands of dollars seem to gravitate to public figures and notable individuals that hold large amounts of social capital. Donations towards a wealthy corporate executive, ironically, aren’t about the money at all. They are a stand in for a tangible demonstration of support. Moreover, the larger the woven social web, the more fly-sized donations of a few dollars get ensnared by it. People with larger social networks engage with more nodes to transact with. This is exacerbated from living under the constant presence of platforms that can transfer money from person to person. Capitulating fiscal compassion has never been easier!
The automaticity of pressing colorful “DONATE” or “SEND MONEY” buttons is worthy of pause. To what degree is the streamlined transfer of cash between people a benefit to enabling empathic behavior? Or to what extent is it a lame substitute for benevolent efforts that require actual emotional energy? As long as money can stand in as solicitude, thorough understandings of compassion will continually wilt. People and organizations have always tried to throw money at problems that instead require thought and attention, and currency exchange platforms have allowed that precedent to leech into the lives of anyone with a smartphone. Using money to help others is certainly good, but not when it takes the place of interpersonal connections that people need.