TikTok: A Potential Breeding Ground for Excessive Consumerism?

Surely, an app that sounds too good to be true does not come without its pitfalls. With its capability to allow for hours of continuous scrolling, there is always going to be something new on the app. New jokes, new memes, new trends, new viral things. The entire app is curated specifically to users' interests and hobbies so that everyone is always in the loop on the new, "coolest" thing. This is especially applicable to markets such as beauty, fitness, fashion, food, and more. This pattern has brought a rise to cyclical "micro-trends", are essentially seasonal trends that only last for a very short period of time, but are massively popular and accessible.

The power of "micro-trends" has been able to propel even more consumptive behavior from users by exploiting the psychological fear of missing out. A behavioral economics concept for this is known as 'loss aversion': "The psychological effects of experiencing a loss or even facing the possibility of a loss might even induce risk-taking behavior that could make realized losses even more likely or more severe." (Liberto, 2021). 

Micro-trends that become popular overnight create a thought process in consumers that they will be missing out on something if they choose to opt out. The natural reaction of wanting to conform and be relatable to people around us is what truly drives this phenomenon. Especially in the age of digital saturation, missing out on something can foster a negative feeling of alienation for individuals.

Micro-trends that are consumptive can especially be observed in markets like fashion and beauty. Fast fashion has completely engulfed the general TikTok community. Chinese fast fashion companies like SHEIN and ROMWE have soared in popularity simultaneously since the TikTok boom. One site even described the e-commerce platform as being "a favorite of Gen-Z shoppers in the West by offering thousands of new styles a week at ultra-low prices", and reported its value at an estimated $15 billion which puts it above US fast fashion retailers such as H&M and Zara (Peiyue, 2021). 

It's the ability to mass-produce the newest, trendiest items (often stolen from other designers and brands) for a fraction of the price that really strikes their primarily Gen-Z audience. Unfortunately, the combination of the two creates a deadly loop: promote, produce, and repeat. Before we know it, secondhand and traditionally 'vintage' thrift stores are now chock-full of brand new, cheap, and unethically produced garments that have nowhere to go because any perceived social value they had had inevitably expired.

Ultimately, trends in any shape or form are one of the most unsustainable concepts in society. Trends, be it micro or seasonal, always imply that they will go out of style after a period of time. Blaming it on one single company or application is impractical and misdirected. At the end of the day, it is left up to the consumers to purchase consciously with the intent to reap all the efforts and resources put into the things they buy. Slow, incremental--but permanent--change is the only real way of progressing sustainably.

References

Liberto, D. (2021, May 19). Loss aversion definition. Investopedia. Retrieved October 15, 2021, from Investopedia. 

Peiyue, W. (2021, September 23). The shady labor practices underpinning Shein's Global Fashion Empire. Sixth Tone. Retrieved October 15, 2021, from Sixthone. 

Taulli, T. (2020, February 3). Tiktok: Why the enormous success? Forbes. Retrieved October 15, 2021, from Forbes.