'No-spend 2024': Social media has spent years encouraging people to buy more stuff. Now some consumers are pushing back.
TikTok: @miawestrap, @nobuy2024, @anisaanorve
- Many social media users have been pushing back on an online culture of overconsumption.
- Now, some are going further, pledging to embark on a "no-spend 2024."
- They plan to drastically cut spending in the new year, and hold themselves accountable online.
Scrolling may be free, but on social media the incentive to spend can be costly.
Data has shown just how impacted social media users are by the creators they're following. One survey by Traackr, an influencer marketing platform, found that over half of consumers are more likely to buy something if they've seen an influencer post about it.
While the survey found that Facebook is the go-to for most social media shopping, TikTok has emerged as a marketplace for knockoff products. The platform is so packed with materialism that some creators have formed a deinfluencer movement, and more and more are calling out the culture of overconsumption on TikTok.
But as 2023 comes to a close, many social media users are pledging to do away with impulsive spending habits altogether, sharing the things they definitely won't be purchasing in 2024 as part of a "no-buy year" trend.
People seem inspired to cut back on spending
On December 19, a TikToker who goes by @miawestrap posted a video saying she had "been living paycheck to paycheck" for as long as she could remember, and she wanted to sort out her finances in the new year.
In the upload, the TikToker showed a screenshot of her notes app, which listed her self-imposed spending limitations. She said she would be canceling all of her unused subscriptions, including Audible and Disney, would get a library card instead of purchasing new books, and banned herself from buying clothes, Pepsi Max, and tattoos.
The video received over 300,000 views and 240 comments, many of which praised the idea, as some wrote they planned to do the same thing too, or had already started.
The search term "no spend 2024" features many more TikTokers who have made similar pledges for the upcoming year, including a user who goes by @anisaanorve, who wrote in her caption that 2024 was the year of "intentional purchases," and said she planned to do away with buying items like candles, notebooks, and workout sets.
"I feel like sometimes we can over-consume without thinking, especially living in a capitalistic society," she said in her video.
Some people are already implementing their new budgeting strategies.
In November, a TikToker who goes by @nobuy2024 said she would be starting her "no-buy year" in December, as she had "a borderline shopping addiction" and wanted to document her journey to achieving financial stability to hold herself accountable. She was also hoping to connect with others who were "trying not to be influenced by consumerism in the year of 2024," she said.
In a follow-up video she said she planned to use all the beauty products and perfume she already owned instead of buying more, and had forbidden herself from buying hot drinks and fast food, as she wrote in the comments she was dealing with debt.
These TikTokers could be reflecting a broader trend, as Americans in general are keeping a closer eye on their money and financial habits.
Credit card debt reached a record level of $1 trillion this year, and 37% of respondents to a Morgan Stanley survey said student loan payments would force them to cut back on spending elsewhere, Business Insider previously reported.
It seems "no-spend 2024" may just be getting started.