As lovers gaze at pictures of themselves and fake flowers on Instagram get likes and messages from people they don’t even know, shares will be dumped as our stock market prepares for a bad day at the office.

The world is changing and the threat of change is currently worrying Wall Street and it’s a concern for stock markets globally. Of course, this means that today shares here are set for a bad day at the office.

This comes as we learn the new age changes are such that Valentine’s Day is becoming less loved, with only one in 10 people in NSW planning to buy a gift for tomorrow’s day of celebrating that “crazy little thing called love”.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the “Australian Retail Council (ARC) and Roy Morgan have found NSW trails the national average, with only 11 per cent of residents opening their wallets in the name of romance”.

That said, the state is tipped to fork out $160 million on gifts, flowers and experiences. However, this is a $50 million drop in spending. When explaining tomorrow’s scabbiness of lovers in this country’s biggest state,

economists would blame the combination of the cost of living, rising interest rates on mortgages and the fact that NSW has the most expensive housing, as well as the biggest home loans.

While ARC’s chief industry engagement officer Fleur Brown says households are making careful choices about “non-essential spending”, there’s another explanation offered by Sydney florist Jai Winnell.

With a vested interest in understanding Valentine’s Day and what people spend on flowers, this business owner has pinpointed the digital age as a problem.

He argues that in the “age of Instagram”, Valentine’s Day has become more about who sees the gift

rather than the gift itself.

This might shock normal people who haven’t been absorbed by the “look at me” generation. “So, you know that if you get flowers, you are going to post it on social media. There is more pressure now than there used to be. It’s kind of about who sees it,” Winnell told the Telegraph’s Anna Shreeves.

The new internet age is delivering this new offering called Artificial Intelligence that’s threatening the stock market. Right now, sell-first ask-questions-later share players are dumping the stocks of great businesses because there’s a worry that other business using AI will undermine the profits of great businesses such as Xero, REA and other software as a service businesses.

CNBC explained the current market negativity this way: “Stocks dropped on Thursday as investors began to worry about the negative side of the artificial intelligence buildout, which threatens to disrupt the business models of whole industries and raise unemployment.”

Overnight on Wall Street, financial and real estate businesses were given the dumping treatment. Short-term market players sold down stocks such as Morgan Stanley, CBRE and even a trucking business because AI will possibly streamline the logistics business.

Our stock market is expected to open 0.7% down at the start of trade today.

While this is all speculation and could be absolutely baseless, the worry about losing money can make investors sell when panic builds.

Investment strategist at Baird, Ross Mayfield, got it right when he told CNBC: “That’s just pure crowd-like psychology, in my opinion. It’s sell first and kind of do the analysis later, but don’t get stuck holding the bag.”

While AI is bound to create winning and losing businesses, right now speculation and the fear of losing money are driving down stock prices for great companies that are seen as AI losers, when history might prove they will use AI to be even greater companies.

The old world that once celebrated Valentine’s Day with roses, gifts and nights out now is being threatened by a virtual experience highlighted on some social media platform that attracts likes and a lot less dollars spent.

In 1966 a film was made called Stop the World — I Want to Get Off. As AI and the rest of the internet age brings changes to conventions, the economy and people themselves, I suspect many normal people might relate to this film.

While I know this mightn’t be all that romantic, buying a share such as Xero for your lover might prove to be a more rewarding gift than flowers. And it certainly should have more value than a photo of flowers and a whole pile of useless, forgettable likes from family, friends and people you don’t even know!