Is Social Media Making You Broke? The High Cost of "Keeping Up"

Part I: The Price of the Perfect Post

The Hook: “Living the Lie”

The year was 2013, and Lissette Calveiro was living her “Sex and the City Dream”.¹ A 26-year-old intern in New York City, her social media feed was a vibrant, curated tapestry of success.¹ It showcased a life filled with trendy wardrobes for every occasion, endless brunches, picture-perfect Açai bowls, and the sun-drenched glow of tropical getaways.² She was, by all digital appearances, an iconic influencer in the making.³

But behind the golden-hour lighting and stylish backdrops, a different reality was unfolding. Her internship was unpaid.¹ She was living off meager savings and earnings from a part-time retail job, yet her spending was dictated by a single, all-consuming goal: to “emulate the other bloggers” and achieve “online fame”.³

This pursuit of a “perfect ‘gram” ¹ had a specific, relentless cost. Her expenditures, she would later explain, included “constant online shopping for a closet that enabled me to ‘never repeat an outfit’ for a picture”.² It included a “need to feed my newly acquired travel bug without consideration of the potential risks of being in debt – all to show off to my newfound followers”.² She was, in her own words, “living above my means. I was living a lie”.¹

This disconnect between her digital image and her financial reality continued for three years. Even after landing a full-time job, her habits were set.¹ Then came the moment of reckoning. She “stepped back and realised exactly how high a bill she’d run up”.² She was, as she described it, “shocked, scared, and disappointed”.² The price tag for her dream of online fame, for emulating the life she saw on her feed, had materialized as over $10,000 in credit card debt.¹

Lissette’s story is not an outlier. It is a stark, personal illustration of a quiet epidemic. Her journey poses a question that cuts to the heart of modern digital life: How does a simple photo-sharing app, a platform designed for connection, become a powerful engine for manufacturing personal debt?

A Chorus of Confessions

Lissette’s $10,000 burden is just one story in a vast, unfolding narrative of digital-age debt. This pressure is not confined to young, single interns in major cities; it permeates every demographic that scrolls.

Consider “Laura,” a 30-year-old mother in the UK. Her financial spiral began while planning her wedding and escalated during maternity leave, culminating in a staggering £27,000 (approximately $34,000) in debt.⁵ Her trigger wasn’t designer clothes or exotic travel, but the pervasive, pastel-hued world of “mummy influencers” and “social media interiors”.⁵

“I really fell into the trap of feeling like our house wasn’t perfect,” she confessed. “I would try to recreate social media accounts in any way that I could”.⁵ This meant new rugs, new furniture, new homewares, all to live up to an “Insta-worthy” standard that made her own home feel inadequate.⁵ The pressure had moved from her closet to her living room, proving that any aspect of life, once filtered through the feed, can become a source of financial comparison and strain.

For others, the debt is not just a byproduct of casual scrolling but is rationalized as a business expense. This is the “Creator” trap. Danielle Catton, a plus-size fashion and self-love influencer, had amassed 105,000 followers and what appeared to be a successful career. In reality, she was “tens of thousands” of dollars in debt.⁶

Her spending was a “shortcut to success”.⁶ She wasn’t just buying clothes for pleasure; she was buying them as content. “I shelled out on beauty products I’d likely never be interested in otherwise,” she wrote, “accessories I told myself would complement my growing wardrobe, and hotels for unpaid PR events out of town… all of which served as little more than props”.⁶ She viewed these purchases as an “investment,” convinced that if she showcased the right products, brands would “be bound to notice me”.⁶

This reveals a crucial, modern financial pitfall. The “creator economy,” projected to grow to $480 billion by 2027, presents itself as an accessible path to fame and fortune.⁷ But as these stories show, the cost of entry is steep. The old saying “it takes money to make money” ⁷ has taken on a perilous new meaning. Aspiring influencers feel compelled to perform success long before they “make their first dime”.⁷ They are incentivized to take on significant personal debt to build the “image” and “lifestyle” ⁷ they hope to one day monetize. They are not just consumers; they are speculators, gambling on their own future fame with funds they do not have.

These individual stories are the human faces of a sweeping trend. A survey by Credit Karma painted a bleak statistical picture: Gen Zers and millennials are collectively spending £400 a month (about $500) just to imitate the lifestyles of the social media stars they follow.⁵ The consequence? Seven in 10 of them go into debt as a result.⁵ For this generation, the “high cost of ‘keeping up’” is no longer a metaphor; it is a monthly line item on a credit card statement.

Part II: The Comparison Engine: Our Brains on the Feed

The debt is the “what.” The “why” is a matter of behavioral psychology. The financial crises detailed by Lissette, Laura, and Danielle are not born from a simple lack of discipline. They are the predictable, behavioral outcomes of a system precision-engineered to exploit a fundamental flaw in the human psyche: our uncontrollable need to compare.

The Psychology of the “Upward Spiral”

Connecting with others and scrolling through content are the primary functions of social media.⁸ But beneath these benign activities, a powerful psychological mechanism is always at work. Researchers have identified that one of the platform’s most significant impacts on mental health is its role in social comparison.⁸

This tendency to compare ourselves to others is natural, a core part of how we form our identity.⁸ But social media’s architecture—a visual feed of curated, “positively-biased and idealized self-presentations” ⁹—hyper-activates a specific, detrimental form of this behavior. It’s called Upward Social Comparison, the “tendency to notice people… who we judge (subconsciously or even unconsciously) as being better than us”.⁸

This is not just a vague “feeling” of envy; its effects have been clinically quantified. A landmark 2023 meta-analysis published in Media Psychology synthesized 48 experimental studies involving thousands of participants to measure the precise impact of this upward comparison on social media.⁹ The findings were conclusive.

The study found an “overall negative effect of upward social comparison… on social media users’ self-evaluations and emotions” (with a statistically significant effect size noted as $g = -0.24$).¹⁰

This negative effect was broken down into specific, measurable harms:

Body Image: A significant negative effect ($g = -0.31$) ¹⁰
Subjective Well-Being: A significant negative effect ($g = -0.19$) ¹⁰
Mental Health: A significant negative effect ($g = -0.21$) ¹⁰
Self-Esteem: A significant negative effect ($g = -0.21$) ¹⁰

The most important discovery from this research is how we react. When faced with a post of a “superior” other, there are two possible responses: assimilation (feeling inspired, e.g., “I can be like that”) or contrast (feeling diminished, e.g., “I am not like that”). The meta-analysis confirms that “contrast is the dominant response to upward comparison on social media”.¹⁰ We see someone’s perfect vacation, perfect home, or perfect body, and the dominant, involuntary psychological reaction is to feel worse about our own.

This is the bridge between scrolling and spending. The “contrast” response creates an immediate psychological deficit. The app, in a matter of seconds, has damaged our self-esteem, mental health, and well-being.¹⁰ In a consumer society, the fastest way to “solve” this deficit—to close the gap between our diminished self and the idealized “other”—is to buy something.

Consumerism becomes a form of self-medication for the psychological wound inflicted by the feed. The $10,000 in debt ³ and the £27,000 in debt ⁵ are, in essence, the tangible, monetized representations of that psychological “contrast.” The overspending detailed in Part I is the behavioral response to the negative self-evaluations (g = -0.21) ¹¹ that the app is scientifically proven to create.

The Panic Button: FOMO and the Financial Deficit

The second psychological driver is Upward Comparison’s anxious sibling: Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). This is not just a millennial buzzword; it is a “pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent”.¹² It is a “state of anxiety” ¹³ that social media seems designed to induce, a constant stream of evidence that others are “having more fun or living better lives”.¹³

While Upward Comparison creates a deficit in self-esteem, FOMO creates a deficit in experience. And a growing body of research has found a “smoking gun” link between this anxiety and our bank accounts.

One 2024 study on young consumers found a “strong, direct relationship” and “direct association” between “greater FoMO” and “lower levels of… financial wellbeing”.¹² This is not an assumption; it is a documented correlation.

The mechanism is a vicious “cyclical pattern”.¹⁵ Research shows that individuals with low self-esteem (perhaps from the Upward Comparison just discussed) are more likely to experience FOMO.¹⁵ This FOMO then “can compel you to pick up your phone every few minutes,” fueling “even greater social media use”.¹³ But this “high levels of social media usage” in turn leads to higher levels of FOMO.¹⁵ The user is trapped in a feedback loop of anxiety.

This anxiety demands a financial solution. A survey by Aqua found that 28% of participants explicitly said that FOMO “played a big role in their overspending habits”.¹⁶ This is precisely what a Reddit user, who quit social media, confessed to in a personal finance forum. They were shocked to see how much money they had “wasted on so much crap”.¹⁷ The reason? They were “so easily persuaded by the hype ads, the FOMO feeling“.¹⁷

This reframes FOMO from a simple social anxiety into a potent, anti-financial-planning force. Sound financial management—budgeting, saving, investing—requires long-term thinking and the ability to delay gratification.¹⁸ FOMO is the psychological opposite. It is a state of perpetual, short-term panic that demands an immediate solution to alleviate the anxiety—buy the concert ticket, book the “Instagrammable” vacation, purchase the “it” product. The state of mind that social media fosters is, by its very nature, psychologically incompatible with sound financial health, placing the user’s mental state in direct conflict with their bank account.

Part III: The Architecture of Desire

If our brains are this vulnerable—primed for comparison and riddled with FOMO—how does the platform itself capitalize on it? The answer lies in a sophisticated commercial architecture that has perfected the science of persuasion, an architecture built on two pillars: the “authentic” influencer and the “personal” algorithm.

The Trojan Horse: Influencers and “Authentic” Selling

The rise of influencer marketing is the single most important commercial evolution of the platform. It is a “pivotal strategy” that is fundamentally different from traditional celebrity endorsements.²⁰ Its power does not come from a celebrity’s detached fame; it comes from the influencer’s perceived “authenticity and relatability”.²⁰

Followers develop what researchers call “parasocial, or one-sided relationships” with the influencers they follow.²¹ They “extend emotional energy, interest and time,” even though the influencer “remains unaware of their identity”.²¹ This bond, built through “personal stories, experiences, and interactions” ²⁰, fosters a deep sense of “trust, loyalty, and authenticity”.²²

This trust is the “key to the effectiveness” of the entire model.²⁰ When an influencer recommends a product, it is perceived by their audience as a “genuine endorsement rather than [an] overt advertisement”.²⁰

This mechanism acts as a psychological “Trojan Horse.” Most people have a natural skepticism toward advertising, a “persuasion knowledge” that helps them recognize and resist a sales pitch.²³ But the parasocial bond “bypasses” this defense. The recommendation, even when tagged #ad, feels like advice from a trusted, relatable peer.²⁰ Its “significant weight” ²⁰ is what successfully “drives consumer engagement and purchasing decisions”.²⁰

This model of “authentic” selling has now permeated every corner of commerce, including the high-stakes world of personal finance. The rise of “finfluencers” (financial influencers) shows this mechanism at its most powerful.²⁴ These figures use the same “parasocial relationship-building” ²⁴ to redefine the “traditional boundaries between financial experts and the general public”.²⁴ They use emojis and a relatable tone to make complex, often risky, financial decisions seem “fun, relatable and engaging”.²⁴ The trust built on lifestyle content is seamlessly transferred to investment products, and the consequences can be financially devastating.

The Personal Tempter: The Algorithm

The influencer is the “Trojan Horse,” but the algorithm is the precision-guided delivery system. It is the “1-2 punch” of modern persuasion.

The platform is not a neutral window. It is a machine for “algorithm-based advertising”.²⁶ This sophisticated system “analyzes vast amounts of data in real time” ²⁶ to track user “interests,” “online activities,” “preferences, and demographics”.²⁶ The algorithm’s “key” function, as one study notes, is “to compose and serve ads in a personalized manner”.²⁶

This “personalization” is the lynchpin. It “enhances the relevance of the content” ²⁷ to a degree that feels almost psychic. And this, in turn, has a profound psychological effect: it “increases trust in the ad”.²⁷

The result of this synergy is devastatingly effective. The “trust” generated by personalization, combined with the “emotional engagement” from the platform, creates a “powerful catalyst for impulse buying behavior”.²⁷ This, as multiple studies conclude, “can lead to impulsive buying and financial strain for users”.²⁹

This system is so effective because it creates a “perfect storm” of persuasion that dismantles our natural psychological defenses. Here is how:

A user scrolls the feed. They are already in a state of vulnerability, susceptible to the Upward Social Comparison ¹⁰ and FOMO ¹² that the platform generates.
The Algorithm (Weapon 1) has been tracking their “online activities”.²⁸ It knows they lingered on a friend’s vacation photo, or spent time on a “finfluencer’s” post about debt. It has identified their specific psychological vulnerability.
The Influencer (Weapon 2) then delivers the “solution.” Because of the “parasocial” bond ²¹, the pitch for a fast-fashion brand, a travel package, or a “self-care” product feels like “authentic” ²⁰ advice from a friend.
The algorithm’s “personalization” ²⁶ makes this “advice” feel not just relevant, but prescient. It feels like the universe is sending the exact solution to the problem they were just feeling.

This synergy—the “data-driven” algorithm ²⁶ identifying the wound and the “emotional” human connection ²¹ providing the trusted bandage (for a price)—is what makes the architecture of desire so catastrophically effective at driving “impulse buying” ²⁷ and “financial strain”.²⁹

Part IV: Performing Wealth: The “Instagrammable” Life

This potent combination of psychological vulnerability and commercial exploitation manifests as a series of specific, financially destructive behaviors. It has created a culture where life is not lived, but performed—and the props for that performance are driving users into debt.

The “Haul” and the Fast Fashion Feedback Loop

One of the most visible and damaging of these behaviors is the “fast fashion haul” video.³⁰ Found across social media and TikTok, these videos—where a creator unboxes and showcases large purchases—are compelling to watch, as they “effervesce with the thrill of tearing open parcels”.³²

But they are also engines of overconsumption. They “encourage overconsumption by showcasing low-cost, fast fashion brands” ³⁰ and “reinforce materialistic values”.³³ The psychology is simple: they tap into the “pleasure in purchasing, or more specifically, in getting a bargain”.³⁰ Because the clothes are so “cheap and abundant” ³⁰, fast fashion allows consumers to experience this pleasure “at a higher volume and with greater frequency” ³⁰, creating a cycle “similar to an addiction”.³⁰

This is a key part of the influencer “investment” strategy. Danielle Catton’s “plus-size fashion haul videos” were a cornerstone of her 105,000-follower account.⁶ One hauler admitted she “switched to fast fashion hauls because that’s what garnered the most views”.³⁰ The views, in turn, normalize and promote this “disposable mentality” ³⁵ to millions of followers.

The consequences are staggering, both financially for the individual and environmentally for the planet. This cycle of rapid, “seamlessly” intertwined advertising ³⁶ and consumption has led to clothing production doubling between 2000 and 2014.³⁶ And because the items are “not built to last,” the average American now “throws away 80 pounds of clothing every year”.³⁶

Conspicuous Consumption 2.0: Gen Z and the Digital Status Symbol

For “digital native” generations ³⁷ who have never known a world without social media, these behaviors are even more deeply ingrained.

The data is stark: 85% of Gen Z respondents say social media influences their purchasing choices.³⁹ And 45% of them name social media and TikTok as the number one platforms driving those decisions.³⁹

Their motive for buying is a distinctly modern evolution of an old concept. A 2021 study on Gen Z’s social media activities ⁴⁰ found a powerful, significant link between “conspicuous consumption tendency” and “self-expression satisfaction.” The study found that using “imported goods·famous brands,” “high-priced articles,” and “status symbols” ⁴⁰ was a primary driver of their “SNS use satisfaction”.⁴⁰

This reveals a profound shift. Traditional conspicuous consumption was about the possession of the luxury item. This new model is about the performance of it. The satisfaction for Gen Z is not derived from owning the “high-priced article,” but from the act of self-expression ⁴⁰ that the article makes possible. The product is secondary; the post is primary.

This explains exactly why an influencer like Danielle Catton would buy “beauty products I’d likely never be interested in otherwise”.⁶ The products were not for using; they were props for posting. This is Conspicuous Consumption 2.0, where the “status symbol” ⁴⁰ is purchased not to be owned, but to be documented.

“Lifestyle Creep” and the Rise of “Money Dysmorphia”

Beyond the big-ticket items, social media’s most insidious financial impact may be “lifestyle creep.” This is the “slow, sneaky way” ⁴¹ that “yesterday’s luxuries quietly become today’s necessities” ⁴¹, causing your spending to expand along with (or faster than) your income.¹⁸

Social media is the “uninvited guest” ⁴¹ that accelerates this process, “flashing images of luxurious vacations, designer wardrobes, and extravagant dining experiences” ⁴² until they feel like the baseline for a normal life.

One Reddit user ¹⁷ described this perfectly after quitting social media. It was “eye opening,” they wrote, to see the “crap” they had been “wasting” money on: “clothes, tiny gadgets, supplements, treatments, novelty items.” The “lifestyle creep” had been so gradual they “never really noticed how bad” it was. The financial result of quitting? They are “spending £500 less now!”.¹⁷

This “constant exposure to excess” ⁴² has given rise to a new, documented psychological anxiety: “money dysmorphia”.⁴² This is defined as a “distorted view of one’s finances”.⁴²

But the most critical finding from a Credit Karma report on the phenomenon is a stunning contradiction: “many of these same individuals [with money dysmorphia] have above average savings”.⁴²

This is, perhaps, the most profound and dangerous financial impact of social media. The problem is not just that the app makes people who are broke spend money. It’s that the “perception of wealth and success” ⁴² on the feed is so inflated, so “flawless,” that it makes a perfectly healthy, normal financial picture (e.g., “above average savings”) feel like a distorted failure. This manufactured “dysmorphia” ⁴² creates a “negative impact on… happiness and self-esteem” ⁴² that can then drive those healthy savers to begin overspending, all to close a perceived gap. It turns their distorted “dysmorphia” into a real financial problem.

Performing the Experience: The “Instagrammable” Vacation

This performance of wealth has moved beyond products (which can be faked) to experiences (which must be paid for). The “Instagrammable” vacation or dining experience has become the ultimate status symbol.

The statistics on this are clear:

40% of Millennials “choose travel destinations based on how Instagrammable the pics will be”.⁴³
Over 57% of people “have made plans to dine at a given restaurant based on images/videos in their feed”.⁴³

This desire to “perform” the experience leads directly to overspending. A survey by Credit Karma found that 38% of Gen Zers and 28% of Millennials “claim social media made them overspend on travel after seeing other users’ vacations”.⁴⁴

The motive is often not the experience itself, but its documentation. Studies show “nearly half (48%) of travelers visit places to flaunt them on social media” ⁴⁴, and 46% of Americans admit they “want to make their followers jealous”.⁴³ This is what the Reddit user ¹⁷ described as buying a “new outfit every time I travel” or “spending hours doing my makeup to take the perfect selfie.” The experience has become a prop for the content.

Part V: The Digital Detox: Curating a Healthier Bottom Line

The problem is clear: a system of psychological vulnerability (Upward Comparison, FOMO) is being ruthlessly exploited by a sophisticated commercial architecture (influencers, algorithms), leading to a culture of performed wealth that manifests as real, debilitating financial consequences (debt, lifestyle creep, money dysmorphia).

The cycle is vicious, but it is not unbreakable. The solution is a two-pronged approach, one that addresses the financial habits and the psychological triggers simultaneously.

The Financial Fix: Rebuilding Your Defenses

Financial experts agree that the key to breaking the “impulse buy” cycle ²⁷ is to move from a state of “seamless” ³⁶ consumption to one of “mindful spending”.⁴⁷ This is achieved by creating friction and disarming temptation.

Strategy 1: “Wish list and wait.” This is the single most effective tactic for defusing an impulse. Instead of buying immediately, add the item to a wish list and wait 24-48 hours.¹⁹ Financial expert George Kamel calls this practicing “delayed gratification”.¹⁹ This “waiting period” ⁴⁹ allows the FOMO-driven emotional urgency to fade, letting you “determine if you genuinely need the item”.⁴⁹
Strategy 2: Delete Saved Payment Information. The “one-thumb-print” ⁵ purchase is the enemy of good finances. Financial expert George Kamel explains that “removing your card info… adding some pain to the purchase — all of that friction helps you make better spending decisions”.¹⁹
Strategy 3: Evaluate the Item Without the Sale. Promo codes and limited-time offers are designed to “create a sense of urgency”.⁴⁸ Before buying, experts advise asking: “ask yourself if you would still want the item at full price”.⁴⁹
Strategy 4: Stick to Your Budget. A clear plan is a shield. The popular 50/30/20 budget (50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings/debt) provides a concrete framework to “know your financial limits”.⁴⁸

The Psychological Fix: From FOMO to JOMO

These financial strategies will fail if the underlying psychological triggers are not addressed. You cannot fix the financial problem without fixing the psychological one.

Strategy 1: The “Digital Detox.” This is a conscious “break from digital devices” ⁵⁰ to break the “addictive” dopamine loop.⁵² This doesn’t have to be a total break. It can be a “partial detox” ⁵³, such as turning off notifications ¹³, setting app time limits ⁵⁴, or creating a hard rule: “Don’t bring your phone or tablet to bed”.¹³
Strategy 2: “Change Your Focus.” The feed “bomards” users with images of what they lack.⁵⁰ The antidote is to “practice gratitude” ⁸ and “try noticing what you have”.⁵⁰ Keeping a private “journal” ⁵⁰ of your own best memories can “shift your focus from public approval to private appreciation” ⁵⁰, breaking the cycle of social comparison.
Strategy 3: “Be aware of your triggers.” This is an active, mindful practice: “Notice which posts make you feel down on yourself and start the comparison trap”.⁸ When you feel that “contrast” ¹⁰ effect, that’s the cue to log off.
Strategy 4: “Remember it’s not real.” A key psychological defense is to internalize the core truth of the platform: “Don’t compare someone’s outside to your inside”.⁸

The Single Most Important Solution: Curate Your Feed

There is one strategy that both financial experts and psychologists unanimously agree on. It is the single most powerful, practical, and immediate action a user can take to protect both their wallet and their well-being: take active control of your feed.

The problem is not the technology itself; it is the content and our involuntary reaction to it. The “upward comparisons” ⁸ and “tempting accounts” ⁴⁹ are the inputs. The “negative self-evaluations” ¹⁰ and “overspending habits” ¹⁶ are the outputs. The most effective solution, therefore, is to control the inputs.

Financial experts advise:

“Unfollow or Mute Tempting Accounts”.⁴⁹
“Clean up your feed”.⁵⁵
“Be proactive in reducing the temptation”.⁴⁸

Psychologists advise the exact same thing:

“Add more positive people to your feed; hide people who tend to brag”.⁵⁰
“Only follow accounts that uplift and inspire me”.⁵⁶
“Try to follow people and view posts that inspire you, rather than those who leave you feeling negative”.⁸

This reframes the user’s role from one of passive consumer to active curator. It is not a matter of “willpower”—trying to resist a feed that is “addicting” ⁸ by design. It is a matter of architecture—building a digital environment that supports, rather than sabotages, your financial and mental health.

The following table synthesizes these parallel strategies into a single, actionable plan.

The Healthy Feed: A 2-Pronged Action Plan

The Financial Strategy

Control Input: Unfollow or mute tempting accounts and brands that trigger spending.⁴⁸

Create Friction: Delete saved credit card information from browsers and apps.¹⁹

Delay Impulse: Use a 24-hour “waiting list” for all non-essential social media purchases.¹⁹

Reframe Mindset: Actively separate “needs” from “wants” and stick to a 50/30/20 budget.⁴⁸

The Conclusion: The “Authentic” Life

The narrative of this financial crisis, which began with Lissette Calveiro “living a lie” ¹, also finds its resolution in her story.

When she “realised the extent of her money woes” ², the $10,000 in debt was a wake-up call. She was forced to “scale back,” move to a cheaper apartment, and meticulously begin the long process of paying off her debts.²

But the most important change was not financial; it was personal. She “changed her online persona to be more honest about her financial situation, sharing money-saving tips along the way”.² She stopped performing a life she couldn’t afford and started documenting the real one.

Her story, which began as a cautionary tale, provides the perfect conclusion. The “high cost of ‘keeping up’” is not just the interest on the credit card; it is the anxiety, the “contrast,” and the misery of “living a lie”.¹ The solution, and the only truly “Insta-worthy” life, is the one she found on the other side. By trading her curated performance for financial honesty, she finally achieved what the platform had promised all along: a “debt-free, more authentic life”.²

The answer, then, is to stop scrolling for a life that is not real and start curating one that is.

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