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In my opinion, caring about status symbols is one of the silliest mindsets a person could adopt. Some examples for behaviour related to this mindset might be:

1) Showing off expensive clothes for the sake of their brand name rather than buying for quality.
2) Ownership of a prestigeous car as a major life achievement.
3) Trying to look especially well-off or even rich in front of other people by other means.

While those behaviours might impress some people, they can aswell parade various shortcomings of one's personality which a more socially aware person can pick up. One example would be buying an expensive car with massive "flexing-potential" on a loan while still living with one's parents at 30. Friends with a common interest in cars might be impressed by that flashy status symbol, but it is not a meaningful life achievement. While this person lives a sort of prolonged adolescence without having learned to take responsibility for themselves, possibly still being addicted to videogames like a 16 year old, others have long started working towards more meaningful things like taking care of their own family, fighting their vices and finding their ways to do moral good.

Let us dig deeper into this negative example and evaluate the practical implications. Going into debt for the prestigeous purchase might be optional, but its probably needed if you really want that Ferrari at 30 with such a lifestlye. Being in debt for a status symbol definitely sounds mindless. Additionally, a luxury car is often unpractical for daily use. Why would you want a car that has less storage space and fewer seats, uses more fuel and hovers too low above the ground to drive anywhere but on the best of roads? This car is inferior to your average car in more or less all aspects that matter, besides quality. Imagine not being able to transport more than a single person besides you, as well as being unable to transport even a small piece of furniture. Then, the cherry on top of the cake is paying more for fuel. Amazing!

The practical problems might be especially prevalent for expensive cars compared to other status symbols, as cars are one of the bigger investments in life and bear long-term consequences. But when I think about a superficial person decked in Gucci and LV, I just can hardly imagine that those people would have a more fulfilled life or better relationships than anyone else. Especially since we easily get used to things and start taking them for granted. For example, how happy or thankful are we about having artificial light, clean tap water or all the exotic fruits in our grocery stores?