Social networks and encouraging consumerism
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Trends and consumerism have always existed in capitalist society, but with the advancement of technology, the emergence of social media and digital influencers, more people have access to the famous trends, which has triggered a wave of overconsumption.
The influencers in social media have created an illusion of a perfect life based on materialism, which has made companies create marketing strategies based on the use of the media and digital influencers.
When I look around, I perceive that when people see influencers on the internet, they create an illusion that if they have the same material goods as the influencers, they will have the perfect life, and it is based on this idea that the market ends up developing marketing strategies.
Aligned with this fact, we have the trends that are always seasonal, which are very common on social media, and end up having an influence on excessive consumption. Because they are naturally momentary, the trends that are widely used and even created by influencers and brands themselves, make people consume more to be aligned with them, which creates a series of purchases based on a naturally non-conscious idea.
For example, "booktook" which is a part of Tik Tok, with content directed to reading, I saw a video of a girl who organized her shelf in a way that it was noticeable which books she had read and which ones she had not. In the end you can see that she had not read even half of her books. It may not seem like it, but these posts can reach people who have no knowledge about conscious consumption, who end up idealizing a perfect life based on consumerism, and when they cannot fulfill their material desires they may end up developing health problems as a result.
These problems could be solved with the end of the capitalist system that developed ideas of happiness based on consumerism, even though happiness is relative. The union of this factor with the rise of social media eventually triggered the materialistic society we live in.
Developed by: Ana Clara Rosa; Student from Rio de Janeiro.
