If you think scrolling social media increasingly feels like online shopping, you\u2019re not wrong. More than 8 in 10 consumers say they buy something because of an influencer\u2019s recommendation at least once a year, according to a report from Sprout Social, a social media management and analytics platform. And 49% make influenced purchases at least once a month.<\/p>\n
Enter deinfluencers, stage left. These content creators use social media to push back against buy culture.<\/p>\n
In their videos and posts, you\u2019ll hear that there\u2019s no such thing as an \u201cAmazon must-have,\u201d wearing last year\u2019s winter coat is normal and you don\u2019t need a 12-step skincare routine. You can find this kind of content on Instagram, TikTok and elsewhere under hashtags like #underconsumption, #deinfluencing and #minimalism.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeinfluencing starts with social permission to delay, question or reject a purchase,\u201d says Gleb Tsipursky, Ph.D., a behavioral scientist and author of \u201cThe Psychology of AI Adoption at Work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat matters because impulse spending often depends on urgency, identity and fear of missing out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Your feed really wants you to buy something<\/p>\n
Social media<\/a> may feel like entertainment, but it\u2019s become a massive shopping channel. Eighty-nine percent of marketers reported partnering with an influencer or content creator in 2025, an increase from 50% in 2024, according to data from HubSpot, a cloud-based customer platform.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery scroll through social media feels like someone is selling us something,\u201d says Diana Gleason, founder and CEO of DG Accounting Agency, a remote accounting firm. \u201cI think financial deinfluencing is gaining momentum because people are exhausted by the constant pressure to consume.\u201d<\/p>\n Paige Pritchard, Dallas-based founder of group coaching firm Overcoming Overspending, points out that while social media posts used to feel aspirational, they\u2019ve taken consumption to a new level.<\/p>\n \u201cPost after post would be the restocks and the Amazon hauls and the fridges that are completely filled and the pantries with the beautiful bins,\u201d Pritchard says. \u201cI think a lot of people are like, \u2018Am I the only one that\u2019s not living life this way?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Why deinfluencing could help your finances<\/p>\n For (we hope) obvious reasons, someone stepping into your spending path and holding up a stop sign might lead to fewer spontaneous splurges.<\/p>\n \u201cA small interruption can make someone reconsider the purchase and give them deliberate thinking time to catch up on the impulse,\u201d Tsipursky says.<\/p>\n These creators can also challenge your ideas about what you need to spend to be satisfied<\/a>. Do you need a newer car or a bigger house to live your best life? Deinfluencers think not.<\/p>\n \u201cThis trend supports that idea of, \u2018Let\u2019s adjust our expectations so we can be happy with the life we want to live, rather than stressed and wishful,\u2019\u201d says Alissa Krasner Maizes, a certified financial planner in Boca Raton, Florida, and founder of financial planning firm Amplify My Wealth.<\/p>\n But deinfluencing can still be influencing<\/p>\n