Social media and rampant consumerism has made us lose the art of discovery and personal choice
The other day I watched a Tik Tok of a girl who explained how social media is ruining our ability to create our own identities. Since then, I have thought about it a lot. It has made me hyper aware of everything I am watching. Rather than deciding for ourselves what we like, through all of our life experiences, it is decided for us. In the video, she explained how we are fed so much information about so many products that we ourselves do not choose anything. Do you need a new blush? There are already three in your mind that you have seen go viral. Do you need a new pair of jeans? There is a popular brand giving you ads (catered to you) on your Instagram. This is an issue for a number of reasons.
First, it prevents us from forming identities that are based solely on what we like. Advertisements and trends have always affected people’s interests, but social media has brought this to a new level. Personally, I feel like there are times when I do not even know what I like because I have been fed a ton of information about what is “good or bad”. We are not able to discover our style, just what we like of what others have. It is hard enough to grow up and not know who you are or what you like. It makes it 10 times more difficult when you throw rampant consumerism in the mix.
Additionally, we no longer have the satisfaction of finding something individual to ourselves; we just buy what has been fed to us. For many products, we do not browse through a store to discover what we truly like without any outside perspectives. We always have something in mind, a baseline of what something should look like. Is this the dupe of the designer bag I just saw on my For You page? Did my favorite influencer say they disliked this brand? Rather than searching for a new sweater, we look on Pinterest to see what the people with your general style are wearing. Even when going to a thrift store, I catch myself looking for something similar to what I’ve seen online. Conscious or not, a lot of these choices are not of our own. Frankly, it is often easier to just buy what other people tell you to. But this does not change the fact that there is nothing better than finding something you love that only you have. While this still occurs, it is harder when you already have so much information thrown at you. It takes away the fun of finding your own items.
Another issue with this is overconsumption. Since we have so many things shoved in our face, we not only have what we want decided, there are too many to pick from. Often, this leads us to buy way too much. For example, a new hair tool goes viral. By the time you buy it, there is another hair tool that is “even better”. Then, you are stuck with two hair tools that you barely liked in the first place. This makes us feel constantly behind, is terrible for the environment and leaves us with no time to find the things we like! Rampant consumerism has been increasing and it does no one any good besides the people profiting.
I, too, perpetuate this cycle. I fall victim to many of the viral products that come across my For You page. There are some positives to this constant flow of information and products. If you do enough research (often past just watching one video) it can allow you to easily find the best product. Rather than trying a few out and spending a bunch of money, you can find one that many people have had experience with and enjoyed. In some instances, rather than purchasing something random, it can allow you to save money and buy less products. Still, though, you don’t know if the products are something you will like. The line can become blurred of what everyone else enjoys and your personal preferences due to all the promotion.
Now, this is obviously not the case for everything, and it differs from person to person based on their social media use, algorithms and a ton of other factors. I think everyone could agree that, to a certain extent, this affects us all. Even someone like my dad, who doesn’t use social media, has heard ads repeated time and time again for different products on podcasts. Consumerism has us all in a chokehold, and I fear that we may not even realize it.