It’s not. I’m from a third world country and almost everybody no matter what has at least a smartphone, a motorcycle, a TV and booze.

People from developed nations tend to not have the slightest understanding of what third world countries look like and generally just think of those pictures of subsaharan African children starving near huts in the savannah.

The reality of it is that living in a third world country doesn’t immediately mean you have no access to commodities or modern items. It’s not living in the past. Usually it means you have to work your ass harder than anybody in a first world country to afford some imported or more globalised items. Your labour rights are poorer, your working hours longer and your career growth more limited, but I’m sick of all the American (and to some extent European) exceptionalism where people think citizens of third world countries can’t even have a smartphone.

You can even enjoy relative luxury without being part of corrupt government circles or even rich. Like… most people can at least afford to go to vacation to national parks or popular destinations. And sure, they go by bus, or they have to save longer for it, but this notion that third world citizens are necessarily in a constant state of misery and extreme poverty is actually quite harmful. It prevents professionals and highly qualified workers from being taken seriously or from getting rid of negative stigma surrounding their country of origin.