If you think scrolling social media increasingly feels like online shopping, you’re not wrong. More than 8 in 10 consumers say they buy something because of an influencer’s 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.
Enter deinfluencers, stage left. These content creators use social media to push back against buy culture.
In their videos and posts, you’ll hear that there’s no such thing as an “Amazon must-have,” wearing last year’s winter coat is normal and you don’t 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.
“Deinfluencing starts with social permission to delay, question or reject a purchase,” says Gleb Tsipursky, Ph.D., a behavioral scientist and author of “The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work.”
“That matters because impulse spending often depends on urgency, identity and fear of missing out,” he says.
Your feed really wants you to buy something
Social media may feel like entertainment, but it’s 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.
“Every scroll through social media feels like someone is selling us something,” says Diana Gleason, founder and CEO of DG Accounting Agency, a remote accounting firm. “I think financial deinfluencing is gaining momentum because people are exhausted by the constant pressure to consume.”
Paige Pritchard, Dallas-based founder of group coaching firm Overcoming Overspending, points out that while social media posts used to feel aspirational, they’ve taken consumption to a new level.
“Post after post would be the restocks and the Amazon hauls and the fridges that are completely filled and the pantries with the beautiful bins,” Pritchard says. “I think a lot of people are like, ‘Am I the only one that’s not living life this way?’”
Why deinfluencing could help your finances
For (we hope) obvious reasons, someone stepping into your spending path and holding up a stop sign might lead to fewer spontaneous splurges.
“A small interruption can make someone reconsider the purchase and give them deliberate thinking time to catch up on the impulse,” Tsipursky says.
These creators can also challenge your ideas about what you need to spend to be satisfied. Do you need a newer car or a bigger house to live your best life? Deinfluencers think not.
“This trend supports that idea of, ‘Let’s adjust our expectations so we can be happy with the life we want to live, rather than stressed and wishful,’” says Alissa Krasner Maizes, a certified financial planner in Boca Raton, Florida, and founder of financial planning firm Amplify My Wealth.
But deinfluencing can still be influencing
One thing to be careful of: Are you being encouraged to buy less or just nudged to buy a cheaper version of something that the deinfluencer happens to be selling?
Some early versions of deinfluencing — a term that surfaced in early 2023 — were more of a “buy this, not that” format, Pritchard says. “This really isn’t deinfluencing,” she says. “People are still telling you to go out and buy a bunch of stuff.”
Before clicking a deinfluencer’s link, consider whether you’re still being encouraged to buy something you weren’t planning to buy at all.
“I don’t know how many of them are then going to share the links of their less expensive alternatives,” Maizes says. “In reality, they might still be selling stuff to you that you should be cautious about.”
How to deinfluence yourself
If you’re curious about deinfluencing, a quick search for the term on any social media platform will bring up content. Generally, look for ways to interrupt impulse shopping or avoid media that pushes it.
“Before you shop, pause,” Maizes says. “Create a wish list on your phone on Notes, and instead of buying things, put it on your wish list.”
Maizes recommends deleting shopping apps, and Pritchard says she doesn’t do any buying or shopping on her phone. “If I want to buy something, I have to buy it on my desktop computer or in person,” Pritchard says. “It’s just become too fast and frictionless to buy stuff on your phone.”
Another strategy: Stop interacting with shopping or “haul” content. You don’t have to like it, watch it or share it, and you can even mark it “not interested” to retrain your algorithm.
“I’m a big fan of making your social media a space of inspiration, rather than just being influenced to buy a bunch of stuff,” Pritchard says.
The article Can Deinfluencing Help You Spend Less? originally appeared on NerdWallet.
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