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# The Brutal Truth About Flexing in 2025: Pelevin's Guide
- URL: https://ksnk.media/the-brutal-truth-about-flexing-in-2025-pelevins-guide/
- Published: 2026-01-23T08:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-02T14:07:17.000Z
- Description: Explore Pelevin's hierarchy of social flexing in 2025—from tech bro posturing and eco-virtue to crypto worship and mental health chic. Spoiler: real growth means ditching the performance for authenticity.
- Author: Aleksandr Kosenko
- Tags: Cope, Self awareness, Soft skills, Relationships

# Modern Adaptations of Pelevin's Hierarchy of Flexing for 2025

There's a brilliant cult Russian writer named Victor Pelevin. Back in the early internet days, he wrote a devastatingly insightful and ironic post about flexing on LiveJournal (think Tumblr but Russian and from the 2000s). The post was so punchy and dense that it became a hit — still getting reposted and quoted to this day.

Most people don't even remember where it came from anymore, and some still pass it off as their own.

Below are 5 modern adaptations of Pelevin's hierarchy of flexing, reimagined for 2025–2026.

---

## 5 Modern Adaptations of Pelevin's Hierarchy of Flexing for 2026

### Version 1: Tech Flexes

**Level One**

- Latest iPhone Pro Max
- Tesla Model S
- Reading self-help books
- Hating on TikTok
- Dating an influencer

**Level Two**

- Nothing Phone or Fairphone
- Xiaomi electric scooter
- Reading Yuval Harari
- Hating on hustle culture
- Dating a UX designer

**Level Three**

- Working remotely on whatever device
- Using car-sharing apps
- Reading tech blogs
- Meditating via apps
- Equal partnership relationships

**Level Four**

- Digital detox
- Selling all your gadgets
- Moving to a co-working space in Bali
- Achieving work-life balance

**Final Level**

- Quietly coming back
- Coding on a corporate laptop
- Playing mobile games
- Loving the person next to you
- Knowing that any kid with Python can change the world

---

### Version 2: Eco Flexes

**Level One**

- Tesla Cybertruck
- Shopping organic at Whole Foods
- Reading biohacking blogs
- Hating on fast food
- Dating a fitness trainer

**Level Two**

- $3,000 bicycle
- Local farmers markets
- Reading permaculture books
- Hating on consumerism
- Dating an eco-activist

**Level Three**

- Public transportation
- Growing microgreens
- Reading climate research papers
- Minimalist relationships

**Level Four**

- Off-grid commune
- Complete rejection of civilization
- Becoming one with nature

**Final Level**

- Moving back to the city
- Quietly sorting your recycling
- Shopping at regular stores
- Loving your family
- Knowing that behind every plastic bag might be someone's conscious choice

---

### Version 3: Crypto Flexes

**Level One**

- Lambo bought with Bitcoin
- Cold wallets
- Reading whitepapers
- Hating on fiat
- Dating a crypto trader

**Level Two**

- Modest DeFi portfolio
- Hardware wallet
- Studying blockchain technology
- Hating on speculators
- DAO-based relationships

**Level Three**

- Salary in stablecoins
- P2P transactions
- Reading about Web3
- Decentralization philosophy in relationships

**Level Four**

- Building your own blockchain
- Complete anonymity
- Digital enlightenment

**Final Level**

- Using regular banks
- Keeping cash
- Loving real people
- Knowing that behind any shitcoin might be a genius

---

### Version 4: Mental Health Flexes

**Level One**

- Personal therapist
- NLP courses
- Reading Jordan Peterson
- Hating on "toxicity"
- Dating a life coach

**Level Two**

- Group therapy
- Mindfulness practices
- Reading Nassim Taleb
- Hating on self-improvement
- Conscious relationships

**Level Three**

- Self-analysis through journaling
- Free meditation apps
- Studying neuroscience
- Embracing solitude

**Level Four**

- Silent retreat
- Complete ego dissolution
- Enlightenment through suffering

**Final Level**

- Just living
- Sometimes being sad
- Binge-watching Netflix
- Hugging your family
- Knowing that behind any neurotic might be a sage

---

### Version 5: Meta Flexes

**Level One**

- Meta Quest VR headset
- NFT collection (a market showing signs of recovery in 2026 with rising prices and trading volumes, though still limited and overshadowed by broader market shifts — experts predict a pivot toward utility-based NFTs, though the market remains far from its 2022 peak)
- Reading about the metaverse (by 2026, the metaverse will become a key business innovation: 30% of global organizations will have products integrating AR, VR, blockchain, and AI — significant investments in emerging tech are expected)
- Hating on "meatspace"
- Dating a 3D avatar

**Level Two**

- AR glasses
- Creating digital art
- Studying immersive technologies
- Hating on materialism
- Virtual relationships

**Level Three**

- Living in mixed reality
- Creating VR content
- Exploring the limits of perception
- Embracing hybrid identity

**Level Four**

- Full immersion in virtual reality
- Rejecting the physical body
- Digital immortality

**Final Level**

- Going offline
- Touching physical objects
- Looking people in the eyes
- Hugging your kids
- Knowing that behind any gamer might be a saint

---

**Pelevin's wisdom remains timeless: true advancement lies in letting go of the need to be advanced.**