“Run, don’t walk.”
“You NEED this.”
“This is a game changer.”
“I’m obsessed.”
“I’ve been gatekeeping this for far too long.”
Lying in your bed at night, mindlessly scrolling through social media, you’re bound to come across some sort of video that uses one of these phrases. Whether you realize it or not, much of the content created by your favorite influencers is advertising, whether it’s for a clothing item, a beauty product or anything else supposedly capable of transforming your life.
Influencers can quickly build a following by advertising products to their audiences. It takes just one video of a girl with silky, smooth hair to make you consider adding her long list of products to your own routine. When enough people online agree that an influencer seems credible and the product they’re promoting is worth the investment, their recommendations can quickly turn into consumer trends.
The purpose of this article is not to claim that I’ve never bought into an often short-lived consumer trend. That would be far from the truth. Even the least easily influenced people have fallen victim to a popular mass-consumption trend — how could they not? With every scroll, images of people using the item you covet are everywhere. And that’s before you start seeing it in real life, too. With every walk to class, you see girls wearing the newest Parke sweatshirt you’ve been eyeing, suddenly making that $130 price tag seem not quite as bad.
As a consumer, I’m not proud of it, but I’m woman enough to admit it: I’ve fallen victim to trendy water bottles every couple of months, a new Rhode blush despite the two others sitting at the bottom of my makeup bag and, as I just alluded to, a brand-new Parke sweatshirt. I purchased all these items after being convinced on social media that my life would somehow end up drastically unfulfilled without them. After buying into these mass consumption trends, I rarely feel scammed or believe I won’t use the things I purchased. Instead, I quickly realize that while these items are nice, they didn’t bring me the immediate sense of gratification I was promised on social media. I really could have lived without them.
Around two years ago, I remember seeing “de-influencing” videos on my For You Page for the first time. Instead of being told that I needed to sprint to the store or open my online shopping apps as fast as humanly possible, I saw influencers explaining why I shouldn’t buy certain products, whether because they were too expensive, poor quality or simply not worth the hype. I remember always stopping my scroll and watching these videos in their entirety, eager to see which purchases these influences had come to regret and making a mental note for the future.
Over time, although these videos never fully disappeared, de-influencing posts stopped circulating as much, ironically becoming yet another trend themselves. As I’m flooded with concerning headlines about America’s overconsumption problem and the direct role that we play in it as consumers, I can’t help but think that “de-influencing” deserves a more permanent place in our social media landscape.
But if we bring it back, we must rethink it entirely. While attempting to de-influence you from one product, influencers would often pivot and encourage you to purchase another —- a “dupe” that they deem as better. Instead of spending $550 on a Dyson, you can spend $250 on a Shark get similar results. However, this approach completely overlooks the underlying problem of overconsumption.
True de-influencing should make us question the idea that every single one of our wants must be fulfilled through a purchase. Instead of asking whether a cheaper alternative can give us similar results, we should ask ourselves if we even need the product at all. Overconsumption thrives on the idea that there is always something newer, better or more exciting to buy, and social media makes it nearly impossible to look away. Constantly buying new products contributes to unnecessary waste, depletes natural resources and reinforces a cycle in which profit is prioritized over environmental sustainability. De-influencing needs to focus on challenging this cycle of constant consumption, not simply finding more affordable ways to participate in it.
No one is saying that you can’t treat yourself to a new item that you’ve been wanting or that you should feel guilty after buying products that you genuinely value. However, when you consider adding a fourth trendy water bottle to your already extensive collection that’s gathering dust in the back of a forgotten cabinet, or when your finger hovers over the “Buy Now” button as you contemplate if you really need that mockneck in a third color, take a moment to ask yourself one question: “Do I really want this, or have I just convinced myself that I do?”
We don’t have to stop enjoying shopping altogether to become more intentional consumers. Sometimes, the best purchase is the one we decide not to make. The next time your For You Page convinces you that you’re missing out on the latest must-have item, remember that you can appreciate something without owning it. Maybe it’s time we let de-influencing remind us that having more doesn’t always mean having better. In this way, we can all make strides to challenging the overconsumption that costs us both our money and our planet.