Is “Underconsumption Core” Here to Save Us or Another Passing Fad?
TikTok is no stranger to trends. The app is frequently where trends not only develop but reach new heights, and gain a widespread audience. Summer 2023 was all about “Barbie core,” and “cottage core” existed long before, but the new trend hitting people’s for you pages is “underconsumption core.”
Cara Parez, a YouTuber who makes videos about money management and sustainability under the name Bravely Go describes underconsumption core as “...a current trend on TikTok and Instagram where people are highlighting the small amounts of items that they own or how they reuse or repurpose things. It’s a trend focused on buying and using less as opposed to the normal vibe on social media which is hyper-consumption and hyper-luxury.” Tiffany Ferg, another YouTuber who makes videos about social media, and internet culture describes underconsumption core as “Deliciously confusing, misleading, romanticized, and core-ified.”
In a world where everything either is or feels like an ad, underconsumption core looks to take back the power and encourage people to use what they already have. Parez says in her video about the topic “Overconsumption has become so normalized for everyday life and everyday people in the United States that I think people are finally hitting their limits.” In a climate of haul videos, Amazon must-haves, and fast fashion it can feel normal to buy things just for the sake of a social media post, or a one-time use.
On a planet where there is already a massive issue with the amount of trash we as people generate, encouraging people to spend money and buy things for the sake of buying them is extremely dangerous. According to a 2021 report from Oceana, an international organization that focuses on ocean restoration and protection, Amazon alone generated 599 million pounds of plastic packaging waste in 2020. “Consumption is about what we use and buy. Overconsumption is buying too much, more than you could ever reasonably use. So things just go to waste or sit untouched, collecting dust. And underconsumption is in direct opposition to that. It is essentially about buying less and using what you have” says Ferg in a video about underconsumption core.
Though encouraging people to spend less money and generate less waste is generally considered a good thing, the fact that it’s trending on TikTok does raise some concerns. “Do you really care about cutting down on waste, or do you just want to look like the kind of person who does?” Asks Ferg. The first video Ferg notes seeing of this trend popped up in June of 2024 and showcases a TikTok user using things that are somewhat broken, or simply no longer aesthetically pleasing.
As time went on more TikToks that them themselves were aesthetically pleasing began to pop up utilizing the phrase.
As these videos gained popularity so did the criticism of the movement. One is what Ferg was alluding to the people creating these videos may just be doing so for the sake of capitalizing on a trend and not because they live like this. Another take many commenters seemed to have was that this was romanticizing or capitalizing on poverty. “The middle and upper classes can romanticize this idea in a way that poor people can’t. If there is an element of choice here, choosing to under consume that is a big distinction compared to lower-income people who have to consume less out of necessity” Ferg explains in her video. Though Parez points out “Overconsuming is so easy to fall into for anyone, regardless of your income level. Overconsumption has become normalized. We are constantly seeing hall videos on our social media, we are constantly bombarded in our more traditional media (TV, radio, and newspaper) by images of the hyper-wealthy who are hoarding things like houses, cars, and yachts.” Parez also describes what she calls the “Fast Fashion Effect,” “More things are more widely available to more people at a lower cost and lower quality than ever before. Which means you can be low-income and still overconsuming. The things you’re buying are going to be more cheaply made.”
Ultimately whether the users creating underconsumption core videos live these lifestyles off-camera does not matter as much as the message. As Ferg points out in her video “Whether due to people criticizing the trend or praising it, I have seen a lot of larger discussions popping up out of this…I’m always glad to see more people talking about sustainability, shopping addictions, and mindful consumption.”
Authors Note:
I reached out to those in the TikToks and YouTube videos included in this article on both TikTok and Instagram asking for their thoughts on the trend, and inquiring about their approaches to these lifestyles whether overconsumption or underconsumption, and as of 9/15/2024 have yet to receive a reply.
