I realise that cultural differences will play a part, here, as will generational change, but I just spent the evening hanging out with my cousin’s friends, roughly 5 years younger than me, and this was the main topic of conversation…
How much they earn, for how little they actually work. How “easy” their work is. How they can afford shit like house deposits, shitty anime subscriptions, and drugs… Seriously, their main topic of conversation aside from “how much I make” was fucking drugs, and how much they hate various portions of humanity that aren’t like them…
Growing up, I was taught that this sort of shit is to be kept to yourself. Discussing salaries/earnings was a massive no-no, and don’t get me started on the drugs shit…
Especially around strangers, which I was, for most of them…
I just find it a wee bit sad that such “social norms” have become forgotten, in an era of sheer narcissism and braggadocio…
Then again, these people were also arseholes, and scumbag druggies no less, so selection bias is of course at play…
But I just find it jsrring, I guess, that something as simple as “You don’t ask, or discuss, salaries, unless it is relevant”, has fallen by the wayside, seemingly, amongst “hype”-obsessed zoomers these days…
I think it's weird to discuss household budgets. And it will always be crass to volunteer how much you paid for a big ticket item, like a car or house.
It would be weird to talk salary with strangers, but I don't really see a problem with discussing salary among friends, as long as you have an idea what everyone does. You don't want to embarrass someone who makes less.
If you're in related fields, or work for the same company, discussing salary lets people gauge if they're being gipped or not.
That said, I share your sentiment of training for a culture that evaporated before I could participate in it.