Underconsumption Core Is Everywhere—Here Are The 3 Issues I Have With It

Underconsumption core is a retaliation to the overconsumption that has been marketed to social media users ever since social media became less of a “social” media and more of a platform for advertisers to have a heyday.

Underconsumption core is the trend of “romanticizing being normal” and “only buying what you need, when you need it, and using up the entirety of what you have until you don’t have it anymore.” 

Why Is Underconsumption Core Gaining Popularity?

The roots of this latest internet trend can be traced back to the days of “de-influencing,” (in which people were encouraged not to buy things), as well as the “conscious consumer” (being mindful of what you purchase) mindset.

In relation to the style and beauty world, this includes practices such as using the entire tube of makeup before buying another tube, wearing your sneakers for years on end, repurposing plastic jars to hold trinkets instead of throwing them away after they are singularly used, etc. 

This trend has grown exponentially in popularity due to the effect that “Bidenomics” has had on the life of the average person. With prices of goods rising at alarming rates, the average woman doesn’t have the luxury of simply running to the nearest beauty supply store to buy the latest mascara every time a new one is released. And she certainly isn’t purchasing the latest style of jeans every time a new leg is deemed cheugy! (Just me guilty of this? Okay.)

Americans are having to tighten budgets and rein in spending in light of the current economic climate, and really, if we’re being honest, this latest core needs to be renamed “recession core.” 

But as long as there is a catchy TikTok sound or an aesthetically pleasing filter, even being normal and poor can be trendy! It all comes back to the deep desire to romance the normal, everyday life through artful documentation.

Is Underconsumption Core All That It’s Cracked Up To Be?

The trend of underconsuming material goods is exactly that, a trend, with three off-shoots that can actually have damaging consequences. 

Let’s firstly introduce “luxury minimalism.” This trend has been described as a sub-trend of underconsumption core and it promotes shopping luxury brands that are creating items that can last day in and day out for years and years of use. Let me start with the caveat that this is great! The concept of purchasing an item that is made of truly respectable material and well-crafted to withstand the test of time should be championed.

But here’s the potential pitfall with luxury minimalism: What began as an attempt to breathe some fresh air into the internet will inevitably turn into a rat race for how to accomplish the underconsumption core aesthetic with the help of luxury minimalism. The encouragement will be to only purchase the highest quality products to replace the cheap ones you just finished every last bit of and keep that higher quality thing forever. 

We all know how this goes: “This is going to be the last time I ever purchase X because it’s everything I could ever want in X.” The idea of buying one high-quality item could be used to justify spending beyond our budget now because you’ll save money in the long-term. But you will eventually become bored of it, or it will fall out of style, or it will be impractical in your next stage of life, and to Facebook Marketplace, Goodwill, or the trash it goes. Very sustainable, is it not? 

Furthermore, since when have people been expected not to grow and change and have differing tastes and styles as they grow older and their stages of life shift? I’m not advocating for mindless spending on the latest trends, but what I will advocate for is personal mindfulness of budget and what you can actually afford. It’s okay to change your personal style as time goes on, and dare I say it, if purchasing a luxury purse in replacement for your worn out, big-box store purse isn’t feasible, that’s okay too. It all goes back to the bigger picture of being mindful of what you can spend, not what the internet tells you to spend. 

The second potential problem resulting from underconsumption core is the practice of “revenge spending.” As previously established, underconsumption core took off because of the current economic climate. As with Covid-19, many people were impacted financially. When Covid-19 began to fade away and people began returning to work and making money again, the practice of “revenge spending” took place. People had been deprived of being able to afford what they wanted (or maybe what they convinced themselves they wanted) for years, and when they were finally able to afford those items again, they took off at the rate of Speedy Gonzales to the nearest mall and sought justice for their past, poor, selves. 

What makes us so naïve that this won’t happen again? Right now, the trend is to be mindful of consumption because the cost is too great not to. People are always mindful of how much they spend when they have nothing to spend, but how easy it is to forget the times of want when you are basking in the times of plenty! This explains why in 2023, at the end of the pandemic, more than 55 million TikTok users were the poster children for revenge spending by utilizing TikTok Shop, which in two months generated $363 million in consumer spending. The question remains, once we are in times of plenty again, will underconsumption core still be trendy?

Lastly, is there truly a need to romanticize every single thing that you do, including your application of underconsumption core? Or does the need to romanticize hinder you from actually doing what you have set out to do? How often have my fellow Instagram-generation scrollers let their coffee get cold because they were too consumed with posing it perfectly on their dining room table with their breakfast to snap the perfect pic? Sure, you were saving money by not going out for coffee and instead making it at home – how honorable of you to under-consume – but is it worth it if, in the end, you are doing it for the world to see how romantic your life is? The photo is posted of the coffee and the breakfast, and you have used the hashtags #underconsumptioncore and #romanticizeyourlife, and now you are left with cold coffee, a lukewarm breakfast, and constant curiosity for how many reactions you will receive from your online following. Maybe, you have even completely missed a moment of human connection with your friends and/or family, with whom you could have been enjoying it all!

If real life is to be romanticized, the first step is to have a real life. @Adrierising on TikTok probably challenged her audience best on this trend by stating the obvious: “You mean, using what you purchased?” She further implores her audience to “develop an identity outside of what is happening on the internet.” Could this statement ring any truer? Have we been online for so long that we have forgotten what a normal, real life looks like? 

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