Appetite For Distraction

‘Money diaries’ are all the rage, but why do we care how strangers spend their cash? Because talking about money is the last taboo - and judginess is the currency on which the internet runs

Let everyone know about your spending habits, but prepare to be judged

Earlier this year, the weekly spending habits of a New York intern spread like wildfire around the internet. Published as part of Refinery 29’s Money Diary series, it volleyed from person to person in WhatsApp groups, on Twitter and in DMs, and quickly became the hate-read du jour.

She was 21 years old and earning $25 an hour (which sounds like loads for an intern, but this is the Big Apple we’re talking ...