Yeah, for sure, digital markets totally mess with how CPI is tracked. I’ve noticed that things like streaming services or apps change prices or add new features all the time, and the CPI tries to keep up but kind of struggles. Like, how do you figure out the value of a free app that suddenly starts charging a subscription? Or when everyone starts using an online service that replaces something physical, like watching Netflix instead of buying DVDs? The stuff people spend money on changes way faster than it did in the past.

My friend’s dad works in finance and said statisticians have a hard time keeping the CPI basket up-to-date with all these digital products. Plus, the price drops you get from tech improvements don’t always show up immediately in the numbers. It’s kinda wild, because sometimes it feels like life is getting cheaper with tech, but CPI doesn’t always catch that.

So yeah, digital markets just make inflation numbers fuzzier, and that might confuse people or make businesses and the government react to the wrong things. I’d honestly trust my online receipts more than the official CPI report sometimes! Just shows how fast the world is changing compared to the old ways of tracking stuff.