I spend a lot of time thinking about status and signaling.

The most interesting thing I have learned about status is that sometimes people pay for status without any benefit.

A person who gets up at 5 AM to run signals youth and vitality. You can’t buy that with money. You have to put in the work. But it also releases endorphins. You feel great afterwards.

A person wearing expensive sneakers signals wealth (hey, I can afford these 20k Nike sneakers) and taste (I know these shoes are cool).

But more important: they also get to enjoy the shoes.

[Gen Z people please ignore the rest of this post because you are too young for it].

What I have never understood is the business of buying caller tunes. That was in the VAS era. Remember that? People used to pay monthly for caller tunes they couldn’t even hear. It was something the caller would hear. There is no benefit to the buyer who is the receiver. No utility.

The only purpose was to say, ‘I can pay for your enjoyment. And I have good taste in music.’

What is the equivalent of that today?