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Trend of consumerism - how social media promote unsustainability


Have you ever seen influencers making videos of those enormous shopping hauls? It is almost certain that you have more than once at that. Those posts may seem harmless at first glance. People have money so they spend it, right? Unfortunately the issue is far more complex than you think.


Social media quickly became the main stream of information and also advertisements. It isn’t necessarily bad if done thoughtfully. Promoting products is in no aspect a new idea. Why then influencers cause so much harm? Not all of them but the majority present an idealized life of happiness and luxury. That meticulously fabricated image consumerism fits perfectly. Numerous videos from opening orders with useless gadgets or unnecessarily many clothes draw the viewer's attention and can impose a false perception of fulfillment that is based on the number of things you own. It is a vicious cycle where you start buying more and more to fit the social standard. You don’t stop to think whether you need those things or not. Is that really what makes you happy or just conceal your lack of confidence and the urge to be accepted? You truly don’t need twenty pairs of jeans. You don’t need to refresh your closet every season or buy the newest model of the phone every year when yours is functioning just right.


Studio Cottonbro. 30 July 2020, www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-black-iphone-5-5076511/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2025.
Studio Cottonbro. 30 July 2020, www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-black-iphone-5-5076511/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2025.

Not only the number of goods is important but also where you buy them. The concept  of fast fashion shouldn’t be foreign to anybody. We live in such times where we are surrounded by shops selling such clothes. However, there are sites on which the issue becomes much more harmful to the environment. Ultra fast fashion can be found on platforms such as Shein or Temu. The quality of things that can be bought there is questionable, to put it mildly. People work in dangerous conditions, tiring themselves out to get paid way below the minimum wage to afford basic human needs. Not only the plastic that those goods are made from is destroying the environment when it is thrown out but also is very unsustainable lasting up to a year or if you are lucky - two years. To add insult to injury those materials can be harmful to our skin, causing rash or other problems. Social media tends to promote those brands more as the videos made from the shopping hauls coming from those sites are more attractive to the viewer. Unfortunately, this only encourages young people to purchase from shops like the ones mentioned above. This leads to consumerism and basing self-esteem on material goods. You can only imagine how dangerous that is.

Remember that your choices are important for the whole world. Don’t fall for this propaganda of consumerism and take care of our planet. Buy thoughtfully and don’t purchase the goods you don’t need. Social media doesn’t show the most realistic life so don’t follow influencers that fabricated their image.


Page design: Zofia Kitlas



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