How social media algorithms and influencer culture encourage subconscious overconsumption
“How much is too much?” Such a straightforward question can lead to countless answers and explanations–yet the actual answer may lie beneath layers of irreversible time dedicated to pointless scrollings through social media platforms. Instead of just listening to what the influencers preach on their profiles, we need to recognize the power every scroll contains. With every mindless scroll, another product appears, another trend becomes a necessity, and another purchase feels almost inevitable. In a digital world designed to learn what captures our attention, the line between wanting something and being influenced to want it has become increasingly difficult to recognize. So, before asking ourselves what is considered to be “too much”, perhaps we should first ask: “How much of what feels like a personal choice is actually influenced by what we see?”
The average internet user spends about two hours and twenty-one minutes on social media every day, according to GWI data reported by DataReportal, adding up to nearly 1,000 hours every year. Yet, those hours are not simply spent consuming random content. On platforms such as TikTok, every scroll contributes to a system that continuously learns what holds a user’s attention, actively creating a highly intelligent algorithm that determines what that specific consumer’s tastes and preferences are. TikTok explains that its For You recommendation system considers interactions such as the videos users like, share, comment on, watch until the end, or immediately skip; for most users, interactions such as watch time are weighted more heavily than other factors. A mindless scroll, therefore, is not necessarily meaningless: pausing slightly longer on a clothing haul, finishing a skincare video, or interacting with a creator can provide another signal about what captures a user’s attention. As these signals accumulate, the platform becomes increasingly capable of personalizing what appears on the user’s screen. The influence of this environment extends far beyond simply watching: EMARKETER estimated that 53.2 million people in the United States would make purchases through TikTok in 2025. This purchasing behavior has only become more prominent, as an April survey from Bazaarvoice and EMARKETER found that 70% of U.S. social buyers had made a purchase on TikTok within the past 12 months, more than on any other social platform, demonstrating how a platform originally centered around entertainment has increasingly become a place of consumption as well. Advertisements, influencer recommendations, product links, and TikTok Shop videos can now exist within the same continuous feed, gradually removing the distinction between scrolling for fun and shopping for necessities. Rather than entering a store or searching for something they already want, consumers can encounter a product without any previous intention of purchasing it, see it repeatedly through advertisements and creators purposefully appearing on their feed to increase the desire to consume, and eventually begin to perceive that product as a desire or even a “need”. Consequently, social media innovation has transformed advertising from something consumers intentionally encounter into something combined within their everyday behavior, allowing the desire to consume to develop before users may even recognize that they are being influenced.
But what happens when the desire to constantly buy extends beyond the screen? Social media has transformed trends and style into microtrends, where products can rapidly become more desirable and just as quickly be replaced by the next aesthetic, encouraging a culture in which constant consumption appears normal. Therefore, the real question is: when did we normalize overconsumption as “niche” and “cool”, instead of unrealistic and wasteful? The consequences to this system, however, continue long after a trend disappears from someone's feed. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, approximately 92 million tonnes of textile waste is produced globally every year, while clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2015 as the lifespan of garments decreased by 36%. This reveals the physical consequences of a culture built around newness: what becomes “outdated” does not simply vanish. Yet social media does not directly encourage this cycle. The term “deinfluencing” comes from the counter-movement that emerged, in which creators actively discourage their audiences from purchasing unnecessary or overhyped products. Vogue reported the hashtag “deinfluencing” now has over a billion views on TikTok, and describes it as ‘deinfluencers’ discouraging their audiences from buying overhyped products, commonly advertised in social media as a “necessity”. The movement demonstrates that the same platforms that are capable of accelerating overconsumption can also provide a space to challenge it. For that reason, the innovation coming from social media itself does not determine how society consumes; rather, the culture created around it transforms what people perceive as necessary, desirable, and worth purchasing.
Ultimately, perhaps the question is not merely “How much is too much?”, but who taught us to want so much in the first place? Social media has transformed consumption from an intentional decision into something intertwined with our everyday lives, such as scrolling, where superficial trends become perceived as needs almost as quickly as they disappear. As the digital world continues to shape consumer behavior, understanding what influences our choices may be the first step toward making them truly our own. As once said by the American radio personality and CEO of Ramsey Solutions, Dave Ramsey, “We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't know.”
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