First World problem is an informal term for the issues in
First World nations that are complained about in response to the perceived absence of more pressing concerns.[1] It has been called a subset of the
fallacy of relative privation and is also used to acknowledge gratefulness for not having worse problems, such as those in the
Second or
Third Worlds.[2] It has been used to minimize complaints about trivial issues and shame the complainer, to generate humour at the expense of first world culture,[3] and as good-humored
self-deprecation.[4]
History
The term First World problem first appeared in 1979 in G. K. Payne's work Built Environment,[4] but gained recognition as an
Internet meme beginning in 2005, particularly on
social networking sites like
Twitter (where it became a popular
hashtag).[5][6] In 2012,
UNICEF NZ conducted a survey of First World problems in
New Zealand, finding "slow web access" to be the most common.[7] The phrase was added to the Oxford Dictionary Online in November 2012,[8] and to the online Macquarie Dictionary in December 2012.[9]
Examples
Things that have been cited as being First World problems include:
Misplacing
AirPods (the most frequent complaint about AirPods).
Apple Inc. attempted to alleviate this problem by introducing a "Find My AirPods" application in 2017.[11]