Due to the important role that social media plays in modern communication and lifestyle, it has become a platform for advertising and marketing. With the persistence of your favorite celebrities and creators all recommending different products, fans are being pulled in all different directions. The consequence of this is mass consumerism.

Consumerism is a system to convince its target audience that they need a certain item for their well-being. Pressure within social media and living the perfect life has proved to its users that they need to buy just one more thing and they will finally be happy and satisfied. But the cycle never ends and there is always just one more thing.

It has become normal for people to own multiples of items they only need one of, just for the aesthetic. As a generation, greediness has become prominent and instead of taking a serious look at the possible negative effects, it has become a joke. Lately, users have posted videos captioned “overconsumption core” showing their mass amounts of unused or barely touched products, overwhelming their spaces. Not only does this cause issues for the individuals, such as monetary waste and unnecessary clutter, it is unhealthy for the environment.

When companies see that a product is doing well after being consistently advertised, they will begin producing more of it. Along with that, other companies will start producing “dupes” or duplicates as a cheaper alternative. Hence, as soon as the product goes out of style and loses its popularity, it goes to waste.

As an attempt to counteract this encouragement of unhealthy overconsumption, others have started posting videos of their “underconsumption core” containing their few necessary items. Although this side of the trend is not as popular, it has been able to show people on both ends of the consumerism spectrum and force people to consider what they truly need to purchase.

Wealth has also played a role in this debate, as assumptions have been made that those practicing “underconsumption core” are simply unable to afford more products. So, overconsumption has become a crown of popularity and prestige, often shaming those practicing a simpler lifestyle.

So the next time you go to swipe your card or click “order now,” think to yourself first; “is this really necessary?”