Social media sells users the lie of unfettered consumption the same way it sells wannabe influencers the myth of infinite opportunities — that you, too, can join this pioneering class of entrepreneurs following their divine destiny to make bank online. The rhetoric that anyone can do this job is peddled by influencers and marketing firms,... See more

But as Pilates has exploded in popularity, the practice and the idealized life that includes it has a new protagonist: the Pilates Princess. She is clean, thin, ritualistic, and has nothing but time for herself — a Patrick Bateman for people with Pinterest manifestation boards.

“Then the lockdown happened. I was stuck inside, I wasn’t really getting inspiration from anyone in my life,”

Overconsumption didn’t begin with social media or TikTok, but it did get a turbocharge from these platforms with a vested interest in our shopping habits. Creators, brands, and advertisers have known it for a while, but now it feels unignorable from the audience’s perspective: There are vanishingly few ways to be online that don’t involve you... See more

Shopping became an outlet for other frustrations in Berman’s life, an escape from a kind of fugue state she found herself in: She wasn’t yet sure who she really was, or what her hobbies were. She felt underpaid and undervalued. Friendships felt tenuous.

We have never been so aware of all the things there are to purchase, and the frictionlessness of shopping apps disguised as social media has created an army of voracious buyers. What has this abundance done to us?

It’s hard to imagine what a social network not centered around shopping would even look like (some apps, like the now-defunct Flip, did away with the “social” pretenses and just made a feed full of ads). And even if there was an intentional effort to veer away from unmitigated consumption, it’s not clear if users — who in the same breath decry... See more