After some thought on the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) scheme, I still think it is a bad idea overall. If you cannot afford a fancy item right at the moment, it is the perfect opportunity for you to slow down and think twice whether you really want it. If you do, you work on a plan to save money for it. Perhaps half way through your saving plan, you realize that you have better use of the money than spending it on this fancy item. After all, an instant urge to purchase is almost always illogical.

The advent of the BNPL companies removes this "slow down and think about it" barrier of life. Everything appears affordable right at the moment, so people will just buy and buy and buy. BNPL is another inevitable outcome of Consumerism and Capitalism. I have no doubt this will stimulate the economy and become a hot shot in investors' eyes, but at the cost of dumbing/numbing people even more. As if removing critical thinking in content consumption via auto-recommendation is not enough, now they are trying to remove critical thinking in how a consumer makes purchases.

I understand that loans are necessary, for real big items or emergencies. But BNPL will seep into every consumer goods, big or small. I see this as a hidden form of exploitation, enslaving the general public with a sugar jar so that all they care about is instant pleasure. Death by pleasure, this is where BNPL will lead us into.