So everything has become a “consumer object”, recycling and conserving “has become cool”, TikTokers invite us to de-consume

Mending, recycling, frugality and minimalism, the “underconsumption core” is popular on TikTok. These publications encourage a return to simple pleasures and know-how, in stark contrast to the type of content usually popular on the platform. Natalie WADE/AFP

The cup is full. On social networks, young adults oppose consumerist overbidding, disguised advertising and the practice of presenting one's purchases, called “haul”, calling for getting rid of the superfluous.

Mending, recycling, frugality and minimalism, the '"underconsumption core" is popular on TikTok. These publications encourage a return to simple pleasures and know-how, in stark contrast to the type of content usually popular on the platform.

"A fed-up feeling with content consumerism"

They "promote a lifestyle of moderate consumption: instead of having 15 beauty products or 50 pairs of shoes, having only three", explains French digital behavior analyst Anissa Eprinchard.

À the time when everything became “consumer object, as well as political discourse… than skin care", this trend signals "a fed-up feeling with content consumerism", she believes. "When someone is constantly trying to sell you something and the prices keep going up, you end up with financial burnout", Kara Perez, an American influencer specializing in financial and eco-responsible issues, told AFP.

"I use elements of nature to decorate my apartment, the majority of my clothes are second hand… I reuse my sauce contents to store food, it's free and very practical", explains for example an Internet user in a video published in July on Instagram. One after another, videos highlight an old piece of furniture inherited from grandparents, patched-up clothes, a dented insulated water bottle or homemade hygiene products.

The consumer feels "alienated"

For Ms. Eprinchard, this trend comes from fatigue with "unrealistic routines or indecent hauls".

This weariness is all the more pronounced in the United States, where young adults are suffering from soaring prices since the Covid-19 pandemic. The consumer feels "alienated" in an unstable geopolitical and economic context, explains Tariro Makoni, who specializes in analyzing consumer and social movements.

On Google, searches for "underconsumption" nearly doubled this summer in the United States, in parallel with those for "overproduction" and the "Great Depression".

According to the experts with whom AFP spoke, the younger generations are realizing that they cannot keep up with the abundance of products favored on social media. In a quest for identity, many young people are “compulsively” consuming disposable and replaceable fashion, British content creator Andrea Cheong, author of a book on sustainable fashion, told AFP.

On her Instagram account, she shows her followers how to mend even the most unusual pieces in her wardrobe, like lingerie, and transforms a mismatched wedding dress into a tank top.

Making the Imperfect Aesthetic

The"underconsumption core" wants to make the imperfect aesthetic and is part of a search for timelessness that contrasts with the Instagram and TikTok trends that preceded it. "I would like it not to be just a trend", however, emphasizes Ms. Cheong. “Because for some, it's a way of life”.

The experts interviewed note a growing appetite for authentic content, moving away from the classic culture of influencers who push hyperconsumption.

Recycling and conserving “has become cool” believes Ms. Makoni. “A similar movement was created after the financial crash of 2008”, she notes. More and more young people have developed an ecological conscience, but the main driver behind this trend remains purchasing power, assures Andrea Cheong, who nevertheless sees it as a positive change for the planet.

If ethical and sustainable fashion is for example an "extremely complex" subject and difficult to summarize in one-minute videos on Instagram, she judges, the "underconsumption core", by conveying the simple message of "consuming less", helps popularize a sustainable, eco-responsible and accessible approach to all.

This spirit of "underconsumption" also blows outside of social networks.

In Washington, Anjali Zielinski, 42, and her daughter Mina, seven, recently participated in a mending workshop. Zielinski hopes to keep her daughter's creativity flowing but also to remind her "the value of things" and “of the work needed to produce them”, in a world that she considers increasingly disconnected from these realities.