Backpacks for Stanley cups, plastic bottles for your already packaged drinks and aggressive amounts of lip products that you’ll probably never finish; these are all just some of the examples of “overconsumption core” that we’ve seen on social media.
However, there’s a new trend on TikTok that challenges the practice of overconsumption.
Meet “underconsumption core,” or the practice of minimizing the amount of items you regularly purchase. While the intention behind underconsumption core is about sustainability, is it also a good economical practice?
According to a report by NielsenIQ, per capita, Gen Z is projected to grow at an annual rate of 4
.02% over the next decade. This means that Gen Z’s spending rates are projected to be twice as much as previous generations.
With the inflation rate at 2.5%, and the wage growth rate at 4.6%, overconsumption is an economical mistake. We don’t actually have the means to make unnecessary purchases.
Gen Z has been notoriously raised on the practice of overconsumption. But who can blame us?
It becomes difficult to avoid when we were raised alongside social media and experienced the rise of influencers. The whole idea behind an influencer is to make you want to be like them, they profit off of your fascination.
We as Gen Z consume because it helps us maintain aesthetics. If you want to be like your favorite influencer and have their perfect, aesthetic life, just look on their Amazon storefronts.
The rise of TikTok Shop also makes it harder to not overspend. According to an article by Forbes, 81% of TikTok shop purchases were made by existing TikTok users in February of 2024, a jump from the 64% reported in November of 2023. That’s a 17% increase in just four months.
Gen Z users between the ages of 18 and 24 make up the majority of TikTok Shop buyers, being 3.2 times more likely than other age groups.
But what do these numbers mean for underconsumption?
Underconsumption calls for a more simple and sustainable lifestyle, one where you don’t impulsively shop just because you can. You use every last drop of a product before buying more, you invest in good quality clothing rather than buying cheap fast fashion. It’s the perfect way to become financially literate.
I think we as Gen Z need to adapt an underconsumption core lifestyle in order to sustain ourselves economically. With the cost of living on a rise and Americans worrying about keeping up with this trend, changing our consumerist lifestyles will impact how much we worry about our finances.
Making even the smallest changes to my spending made all the difference. I no longer find myself mindlessly scrolling on the Sephora or Target websites after payday just to find what to spend my money on.
Underconsumption core is so much more than just a sustainable practice. It keeps us from getting trapped in the cycle of capitalism.
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