Overconsumption. A problem that’s both omnipresent and invisible.

While everyone is – to some degree – aware that overconsumption exists, it’s really hard to acknowledge it in day-to-day life unless you go out hunting for it… which is exactly what I did when I sat down to write this article.

Of course, ground zero for this “exercise” was social media (which I’m finding that I reference quite a lot in these articles).

So, I went back and thought about all the media I’d consumed over the last few days.

Apart from the obvious contenders of fast fashion and makeup/beauty influencers and people who instantly buy the latest iPhone model, what instantly – and surprisingly – popped out at me was a reel my friend had sent me of a gorgeous library, full of beautiful hardcover editions of some of the most popular books right now, artfully arranged across a wall full of bookshelves.

Aesthetically, it was amazing.

But functionally? A nightmare. Setting aside the fact that the books were displayed in a manner that would make them insanely hard to reshelve without setting them off toppling onto each other like dominoes, it just wasn’t something practical.

As a self-professed book addict, I find that most of the books I own, that I keep in my bookshelves at home, are rarely read, if even touched. The bulk of these books are read a handful of times – in various stages of my childhood – and then left as memories to flip through later, bearing a handful of all-time favorites (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, I’m looking at y’all).

Knowing this, I would never invest hundreds of dollars in buying the fanciest, hardcover, sprayed edges, gilded cover art versions of books that I know for a fact I will rarely touch beyond the first read.

And it’s not just books. As someone who has to keep their hands busy at all times and is always making something, influencers who make different crafts – whether that be crocheting, coloring, diamond painting, sewing, or embroidery – are just as guilty of overconsumption, which is very ironic, since the whole point of arts and crafts is to make something for yourself by yourself and very antithetical to overconsumption.

And yet, my feed is flooded with reels of aesthetically organized skells with skeins upon skeins of yarn and drawers filled with dozens of different kinds of markers and colored pencils. It’s important that I give credit where credit is due – quite a few influencers I’ve seen don’t go over the top with their crafting supplies and often have collections they’ve grown over years.

But, I’m still constantly seeing videos of never-ending TBR piles born out of Barnes and Nobles hauls and walls and walls of yarn. I’m seeing jokes and memes on the “issue” of impulse hauls and ill-advised midnight purchases, but nothing that ever addresses that overconsumption is an issue. And a serious one at that.

Whatever may be your niche, whatever may be your hobby, think twice before buying something. Are you buying it for you, or for your For You Page? Because I guarantee you, there’s More to the Story on your wishlist than seen at first glance.