Frugality and 'underconsumption' are the latest Gen Z trends on TikTok
Young adults are urging repurposing, more frugal lifestyles and prioritising quality over quantity
Written by: Holly Tyler
📷 You can now share 20 slides in one Instagram post, as the platform updates its carousel feature from 10 slides per post. The expansion brings Instagram more in line with TikTok, which currently supports posts of up to 35 photos: creating meme formats and trends that use photos instead of clips to tell long stories. Interestingly, this isn’t really part of the Instagram culture — but perhaps doubling the amount of space could create new incentives for users.
🛒 Frugality and 'underconsumption' are the latest Gen Z trends on TikTok, with young adults exhausted from a rising cost of living and non-stop ads. After years of pushing picture-perfect homes, lavish clothes and an abundance of beauty products, a new social media trend is sweeping the other way - urging repurposing, more frugal lifestyles and prioritising quality over quantity. Known as “underconsumption core,” it spotlights living sustainably and using what you have, a reversal of the excess and wealth that dominates ad-heavy Instagram and TikTok.
💬 TikTok adds group chats and stickers in DMs, as the platform looks to tap into the same behavioural trends as Instagram by focusing on direct messaging as a bigger engagement element. Users are now able to create chat groups of up to 32 participants, alongside a new sticker management platform where you can upload your own user-created sticker sets and see how much they’ve been used by others in the app.
📱 Facebook and TikTok see growth among niche groups, but the core user base remains stable. Facebook use continues to decrease across all generations except Gen Z, as the number of Gen Z Facebook users in the US is expected to jump from 49.0% of the cohort (33.9 million users) in 2024 to 56.9% (40.5 million users) in 2028. TikTok has reached saturation among Gen Z, but it’s continuing to grow among baby boomers. That bumps the number of users from this cohort from 8.7 million to 9.7 million, up 10.5%
