Scrolling through Instagram can feel like watching an ever-changing green screen: one minute, the Eiffel Tower. Next, an Italian piazza. Throw in a turquoise beach in Spain for good measure. Alongside this rotation of European geography (potential cost: north of $20,000), our social media feeds are drowning in iced matcha lattes ($7.50) and glazed doughnut manicures ($60+), with captions like, ‘life lately’, ‘accidentally spent two weeks in Spain’ or ‘essentials only’.

‘Life lately’ seems to encapsulate a capitalist’s wet dream, with ‘essentials’ being a Drunk Elephant B-Hydra™ Intensive Hydration Serum ($97), Arc’teryx Beta LT Jacket ($940-$1280) and a face full of Botox ($700+). 

As influencer content has ambushed Instagram, it begs the question – how much influence do these influencers genuinely have over our spending habits and how we view money? To get answers, I went directly to the source: a Q&A via my Instagram stories, to ask how people in my digital community felt about all of this.

Digital marketing  

Crucially, the impact influencers have on us results from us being chronically online. To make the self a commodifiable asset is to turn the self into a walking billboard for brand promotion, which happens to be one of the world’s greatest digital marketing tools. And as digital marketing knows where we regularly congregate, it has many of us in a consumption chokehold.

I asked my friends and followers, “do you feel influencers create unattainable consumption habits?”, and everyone answered yes. One woman replied: “It is a job to keep reminding yourself that the best gear is the stuff you already have. You don’t need the newest, shiniest thing to enjoy your time outdoors!” 

Another said: “Outfit repeating needs to be normalised… When I see influencers always wearing new things, I feel so bored of my wardrobe even though I already have things I love.” 

Although most said they were mindful of who they followed, the algorithm is quick to adapt. “I see just as much suggested content as I do content I have chosen to follow – and suggested content is almost always influencers,” one person replied. 

Financial disillusion 

Respectfully, influencers do the job they are told: "Take a nice picture of yourself with this product and we will pay you a lot of money." In this economy, who would really say no? But as influencers make money, their followers are marketed ways in which to spend money.

I asked people how often they learnt finance or money skills off Instagram and the majority of the responses were “never.” Two people said never except through @girlsthatinvest, while others said often due to the financial literacy accounts they followed – which suggests you must actively seek out accounts that support financial wellness. Otherwise, it’s you against the algorithm.

I noticed that every man that replied answered, “yes, almost every day.” I was not surprised: as women, who are the prime target audience for sponsored ads, the internet tells us a) barely anything about how to be good with our money and b) to buy expensive products that promise to make us more beautiful. To be a woman is to be taught that our beauty is our currency. To trade our appearance for money – which influencers do at a win, and we as consumers do at a loss. 

Spending and escapism

While beauty in the influencer world is vastly smoke and mirrors, the psychology behind beauty and consumption can be complex. The so-called ‘lipstick effect’ is the idea that in tough economic times, consumers tend to spend more on small luxuries. Deloitte’s 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey research showed that the number one issue causing anxiety was the longer-term financial future. Hence the concept of ‘doom spending’, in which younger consumers shop to soothe anxieties from economic forces they can’t control. Because we don’t see a future in buying our own houses, are we foregoing our savings for spontaneous Europe trips and the latest trends instead? When I asked my friends and followers if they purchased things online when they were feeling sad and lonely, the majority answered yes. Much like “doom-scrolling”, we use Instagram as escapism and a way to feel less lonely.

Digital du jour 

As the digital world has become fetishised, an influencer lifestyle epitomises a fantasy life many dream of. When I asked my followers, ‘Are you jealous of influencers?’, half replied yes, with reasons ranging from “easy money and a lot of it” to “getting paid to post and travel”. The other half said they were jealous of the idea of it, “but not the reality.” 

Ultimately, influencers showcase lifestyles that are out of reach for us everyday individuals because we cannot grab hold of something that isn’t real. Behind the thousands of followers, gifts and face masks are probably just regular girls who accidentally queef in their yoga classes or get period stains in their favourite undies.

If you’re craving more real-life stories of financial struggle, follow more accounts that encourage money transparency and promote financial literacy, and unfollow people who promote a lifestyle that is not within your budget. I promise it will cleanse your feed, and your mind.