Everything that can’t be recycled or decomposed naturally just sits in a landfill — and it’s all due to the greed of the TikTok consumer.
Overconsumption is the act of using more resources than the planet can offer. The excess materials that people use creates a heavy amount of waste that the Earth cannot handle, and the consequences are already showing.
Overconsumption is nothing new. All trends, especially fast-paced or microtrends, spawned by the internet have the potential to promote overconsumption and drive people into consumerist traps. And most do.
Social media apps like Instagram and TikTok allow society to play into the current fashions and popular items, concepts or ideas. But it also allows trends to come and go more rapidly than ever before.
Overexposure and lateness are the two killers of trends. One month, sea turtles could be all the rage, but the next month, they’re out and penguins are in.
Microtrends are no better — Labubus, Sonny Angels and Nee-Dohs are all heavily influencing the market. These products create a lot of buzz for a few months before being replaced by the newest hot item; as a result, manufacturing companies end up producing more goods than the people want.
In other words, companies cannot keep up with the customers’ demands and end up with goods that become useless. These items, in turn, are thrown into a landfill and continue to wear down our planet.
It’s not just trinkets and toys that create overconsumerist ramifications. Fashion trends have always largely contributed and sustained overconsumption, feeding off of the supply and demand of the fashion industry.
Take trends like the “coquette” pink bow aesthetic and cheetah print that were at their peak during mid-2023 and early 2024. They were being plastered onto everything like cheap sweaters, sweatpants, jeans, t-shirts and tanks.
The companies that compounded these issues, like H&M and Forever 21, and fast fashion brands, like Shein and Zara, are still especially prevalent when carrying these trend-hopping garments.
Pioneered by Zara, the six-week rotation of items has taken the fashion industry by storm by maximizing production, profit and ultimately product — even if it’s detrimental to the entire planet.
Hollister’s adoption of this model in particular was well-received by customers. The company was the first to capitalize on the coquette aesthetic, and recently released products in response to demand for a throwback to early 2000s fashion.
And while these clothing brands feed into consumerism, they are flipping through trends as fast as society is.
Within weeks, something new takes over and companies are forced to produce more and more to keep up with demands. The leftovers pile up quickly.
Fast-paced trends, especially when rooted in social media, just continue a cycle of producing more than enough and leaving so much excess.
Essentially, all of these excess goods are left to rot in landfills, adding onto the existing issue of overconsumption. If we don’t want to worsen the pollution on earth, we need to put an end to microtrends that are yet another harmful consumerism trap.