Poverty is the default condition for humans. That should be understood as different from chronic want which often accompanies poverty. Hunter-gatherers can and often do have all of the food they need and want despite having little else. But if the rains don't come, the plants don't grow, and the game dwindles, they and their children go hungry. Closeness to mother nature sounds cool until nature becomes the withholding parent. For this reason large portions of mankind have slowly and methodically disconnected our needs and even some of our wants from nature's fickle processes and invented technological civilization. As all of this was underway in the middle of the Twentieth-century the world ended up divided between the capitalist first world, the communist second world, and the undeveloped third world. The Cold War ended but the nomenclature stuck around. The first world exists as a historical artifact, both very much extant or vanish depending on how you frame it.
First World Problems is a term used to refer to gripes about living in the embarrassment of riches that is the developed world. For all that we exist in a utopia compared to the pox marked, chronically malnourished, illiterate medieval peasant of yore or the HIV positive, chronically malnourished, illiterate sub-Saharan African we still aren't that happy because of the hedonic treadmill. While happiness is thwarted by habituation unhappiness is generated by specific causes. Imagine you just bought a new laptop and it has one dead pixel which reminds you of the artificiality of all these images and the fragility of all of the devices that you rely on to keep you connected and distracted. Imagine you ordered a large cappuccino, payed for a large cappuccino, received a medium cappuccino, and now you have the choice of harrying the overworked barista or accepting this meager dose of caffeine on what you have every reason to believe will be your most exhausting and stressful work day this month. Imagine your internet connection died right now and didn't come back for thirty six hours!
According to Google trends the term "first world problems" was most popular in 2012 through 2014. That could be attributed to the caprice of internet culture but I suspect many people would ascribe it to the first world having more actual problems and consequently more anxiety and fewer jokes about their status. Regardless, things which should probably be classed first world problems remain the main cause of suffering in the developed world. While a certain high minded perspective could condemn this as just so much decadent whining I'm inclined to view it as the natural order of things. Hopes, fears, dreams, and problems always have and always will be contextual and while perspective on the actual triviality of present hardships is useful the will and savvy to address them is even better.
IRON NODER XVI: MORE STUBBORN-HARD THAN HAMMER'D IRON