Editorial: #firstworldproblems

There's a hashtag on Twitter that reads #firstworldproblems.

That sentence may have made no sense to you: Twitter is an online social networking tool where people post short messages about whatever they like to whoever cares to read it. (By the way The Daily Post is at twitter.com/TheDailyPost). A hashtag is, as described, a note denoted by a hash, tagged to the message to either link it to similar-themed messages or to comment on your own message. So if we were tweeting about, say, this week's snowfall, we might follow our message with the hashtag #snowmageddon, which quickly became the hashtag of choice for the topic.

So, back to #firstworldproblems - for example: "My phone screen is too dim in direct sunlight" or "Stupid thin cut potato chips keep breaking in the dip".

How about "I'm paying over the odds for an All Blacks jersey"?

Tales of horror, grief and pain have dominated the news far more than usual in the past 12 months - be it from Norway, London, Somalia, Queensland, Christchurch ... the list goes on.

Those problems certainly put into context our day-to-day gripes.

And you have to wonder if the cost of a rugby jersey many would see as a luxury item warrants the attention it has had.

If you can afford it and you want it - buy it. If you can't afford it, join the very long list of people who would like to buy things out of their price range.

If not owning a flash new jersey is the worst of your problems, you're doing very well.

But good on those retailers who saw an opportunity and leapt at it by selling at a lower price.

It's great that questions were raised over the discrepancy between costs in our shops and overseas online stores - a few punters have learned how to save a few bucks and other companies may well take note of the furore - but in the end it's not going to be an issue weighing heavily on the minds of those suffering around the world. It's a #firstworldproblem.

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  Some commentators have said All Blacks jerseys shouldn't be bought anyway, they should be earned. Rubbish. It's perfectly obvious who has earned a jersey and who's just a fan. Why take that joy away from the enthusiast? Especially when they've spent a pretty penny on it.