Did TikTok make us greedy?

TikTok has managed to create a completely curated and personal platform for the common consumer, something that Instagram has failed to do with its seemingly inauthentic influencers. In many ways, this is amazing and provides something for everyone, no matter their style or niche hobby. While I love style inspo videos and keeping up to date on whatever the new aesthetic is, I know that there is a dark side. It’s important to keep this in mind whenever you see the hot new thing trending on your for you page.

When we just thought we were getting somewhere with sustainability, TikTok came along. Trends, accelerated and given such a huge platform on an app where users require instant satisfaction, were always going to create rapid microtrends, and with micro trends comes overconsumption. Let's look at the comeback of Ugg boots. The viral paparazzi photograph of Bella Hadid wearing the ultra mini platform Ugg boots caused an absolute storm that is still raging today. The more people bought and showed them off on TikTok, the more people wanted them. These boots are £145, perhaps not much for one of the world's highest-paid supermodels, but people like us, with our student budgets, can’t afford them and turn to fast fashion dupes to fill our trend-hungry stomachs. Primark, Public Desire, Amazon, H&M, Shein… The list goes on and they all want a quick purchase from a trend follower.

Of course, trends are inevitable and have been around since time began. FOMO and the desire to be relatable affect everyone from time to time, but when you consistently see that boot that you wanted time and time again, perhaps on people whose style you admire, it's game over.

Avoiding this is hard when you're a TikTok user. Being aware is the first step, knowing that trends will pass pretty quickly is the second. Look at those TikTok's captioned ‘my style glow up in 3 months’ - it's usually just them following the new trend instead of the out-of-date one.

So don't follow every trend, buy items you truly love and buy less of them, thinking of how you can repurpose previous trends into new ones. Of course, it is not TikTok to blame but the choices of its users - it is on us to look at ourselves and really think twice about how much we’re buying.

All love,

Poppy xo