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Comment by rhines | Hacker News Reader

Plenty of university students around me who will order a $8 boba tea and be disappointed that the boba is cooked poorly or the milk ratio isn't good, and then do it again a couple days later.

But the difference is that food elicits cravings - you buy it because you imagine how good it'll be if it's done right this time and your body pressures you to buy it. Apps don't do that.

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    > Plenty of university students around me who will order a $8 boba tea

Is this "University of Monaco" (I jest) or UCLA or USC or Harvard or what? What kind of normie uni student is buying 8 USD bubble teas? Ridiculous.

>What kind of normie uni student is buying 8 USD bubble teas? Ridiculous.

I can't speak to anywhere else, but these[0][1] are near Columbia University and $8 is pretty normal there, AFAICT. Presumably YMMV depending on where you are.

[0] https://order.gongchausa.com/

[1] https://www.trycaviar.com/store/tea-magic-new-york-841338/11...

Even here in Barcelona a bubble tea is about 6 euro. It's not something I'd get every day, but it's a nice thing on a hot day. A treat like an ice cream.

And the purchasing power in America is about 3-4 times as high. Also, you don't really get poor students there. If you're poor in America you just don't get to go to college.

    > And the purchasing power in America is about 3-4 times as high.

The median income in Barcelona ~34K EUR per year. The median income in New York City is ~42K USD per year.

    > If you're poor in America you just don't get to go to college.

What? Who told you that? This is untrue. There are lots of grants (free money) and loans available to low income students. Also, the university system in the US is much less rigid than Spain. In the US, many lower income people will first attend community college to get a two years associate's degree. Then, start a job, and attend night school at a university for another 3-4 years to get an undergraduate degree.

Ok, so my joke stands. Columbia University is in Manhattan -- incredibly expensive by any measure.

It’s also easier to pay for something that I feel I’m entirely getting as a treat for me. Sure, that snack is $5, but it’s all a “treat”. Software often doesn’t feel like a treat to own, outside of games that is, having to pay for apps you’d just use in every day life feels emotionally more like an annoying tax you have to pay to just continue existing, just like an electricity bill or something. I honestly think that’s the main psychological difference that people aren’t considering or even mentioning.

this probably goes back to the Steam counterexample - Game apps do elicit that craving.

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