If you look around a lecture hall in any college campus in the United States, you will see countless students drinking from the same trending water bottles, doing work on the same MacBook computers covered in stickers and wearing the same bags and purses. This is understandable, as trend cycles encourage us to buy specific popular items, regardless of their utility — the core of consumerism in the United States.
Interestingly, consumerism is at an all-time high despite relatively low purchasing power. Despite rising costs of living and necessities, people continue to engage in excessive consumption and trends. Currently, it appears that people draw from a small pool of popular products, leaving little room for variety in self-expression.
Yet, despite this uniformity in consumption, Gen Z is obsessed with asserting its individuality through self-expression. A 2021 study published in Psychology Research and Behavior Management suggested that younger generations are more individualistic than previous ones and emphasize distinguishing themselves from others with their appearance. Young adults frequently use their belongings to communicate who they are, treating physical aesthetics as signals of identity and values.
The emphasis on constant consumption of new products makes people think that what you own is somehow indicative of who you are.
Additionally, people have politicized their appearance to such an extent that much virtue signaling is done through their outward presentation. Certain ways of dressing, styling your hair and doing your makeup are associated with either more conservative or more liberal worldviews. People select products that align with these preconceived notions. Also, many individuals express their opinions with clothes, stickers or pins bearing political messages.
In certain respects, cultivating an appearance you think communicates something about you has replaced other pro-social activities. The creation of an outward identity can substitute for other forms of social interaction and connection. Instead of directly communicating values or engaging in collective behaviors, individuals rely on curated appearances to speak for them. Desperate to be understood, young people use their physical aesthetic as a signal to others about who they are and what they value.
There is a tension between the urge to differentiate oneself and the need to conform in certain ways.
Where consumer goods once served more particular needs or tastes, being produced on a small scale, they are now frequently designed for mass appeal, prioritizing broad marketability over specificity. People might not even consciously pick out the things everyone else owns, but might instead reach for the most readily available or instantly recognizable items due to their popularity.
Because ownership is highly emphasized in our society, feeling like your belongings are fully yours and not copies of everyone else’s is greatly important. Once people notice their possessions are indistinguishable from those around them, they feel the need to individualize them so they don’t just feel like mass-produced objects but extensions of self, encouraging them to buy even more.
Social media has a large role in this conflicting cycle by creating both uniformity and pressure to differentiate yourself. Rapidly circulating trends heighten the pressure to buy items everyone else has. At the same time, social media platforms turn self-expression into a public performance because identity is displayed to and interpreted by an audience. People on social media are aware that they are highly visible, so they must tread the line between social conformity and creative expression.
Personally, I try to detach my identity from both what I own and how I physically present myself. Working on other forms of self-expression that are not mediated by purchasable goods can strengthen identity in ways that are less fleeting than those of material objects. I also think that we tend to use shortcuts when trying to understand people, which usually rely on their appearance rather than taking the effort to understand and communicate with those around us.
Reimagining self-expression requires valuing forms of identity that are less visible and less easily consumed.
Shefa Stein-Talesnick is a sophomore majoring in philosophy, politics and law.
Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the staff editorial.