{"id":1345,"date":"2022-04-20T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-20T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/?p=1345"},"modified":"2025-06-17T11:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T16:55:12","slug":"how-social-media-affects-our-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/2022\/04\/20\/how-social-media-affects-our-spending\/","title":{"rendered":"How Social Media Affects our Spending"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Social media is a way of life for most of us, but did you know it could affect your spending? You may not even realize the direct connection, but we\u2019ll show you ways that you might be spending more than you intended all because of your Instagram or Facebook feeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Comparing Yourself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>How often do you watch someone\u2019s feed and think poorly of yourself? Maybe they have something you don\u2019t, or you want to be just like them. What do you do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>You go out and spend money you likely wouldn\u2019t have spent before, just to make yourself look like them. It could be a material purchase or money you spend to go out and do what others are doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Retail Therapy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You might not even realize how social media makes you feel. Whether it\u2019s FOMO (fear of missing out) or it just makes you feel bad about yourself based on what you see others have and do, you might go out and spend money to make yourself feel better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether you\u2019re going out for drinks, food, or shopping, you\u2019re spending money that you wouldn\u2019t have spent before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Impulse Buys<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you follow influencers, you\u2019re likely inundated with the chance to buy things immediately. They show it off and talk about it and you can even read reviews from people that have bought and love the product too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before you know it, you\u2019re clicking on the influencer\u2019s link and buying said product. Not only did you spend money you weren\u2019t planning on spending, but you just lined the pocket of the influencer too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Avoid Overspending due to Social Media<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To avoid overspending just because you use social media, use these simple tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Don\u2019t be on Social Media for the Likes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Social media should be a platform to converse with friends and stay in touch with people you don\u2019t see often. It shouldn\u2019t be somewhere you go for popularity or to get the \u2018likes.\u2019 If you spend just to make yourself look good on social media, you\u2019re spending for the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Don\u2019t Follow Influencers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re prone to impulse buys, don\u2019t follow influencers. It\u2019s too easy to hit the link and buy what they are advertising without thinking. If impulse buys are a source of your overspending, stop following them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Set a Budget<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you need some freedom to spend money how you want, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/rebuild-your-credit\/budget-coaching\">set a budget<\/a>. In your budget, create a line item for \u2018free money\u2019 or money you can spend how you want. This way you don\u2019t have to feel guilty if social media makes you spend some money because it\u2019s in your budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Social media may affect your spending without you even realizing it. Try to be aware of why you\u2019re spending and when to see if social media is the culprit. If you\u2019re already in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/help-with-debt\/debt-management-program\">over your head in debt<\/a> because of your social media spending, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/help-with-debt\/debt-consolidation\">contact the credit counselors at Creditaid<\/a> to get ahead of your debt and to put an end to impulse buys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Social media is a way of life for most of us, but did you know it could affect your spending? You may not even realize the direct connection, but we\u2019ll show you ways that you might be spending more than you intended all because of your Instagram or Facebook feeds. Comparing Yourself How often do &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/2022\/04\/20\/how-social-media-affects-our-spending\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How Social Media Affects our Spending&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,5],"tags":[45,92,107,146,161,309],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1345"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1347,"href":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions\/1347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.creditaid.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}