I’m all for getting things that make you feel good — a new outfit, a gadget, something that celebrates your effort and lifts your spirits.
I do it too. We all deserve small joys. But what I struggle to understand is this rising obsession with flaunting expensive purchases online, as if what we own now defines who we are.
Take the launch of the iPhone 17, for instance. My feed was full of people — especially influencers — posting pictures and reels with captions like “Goodbye kidney, hello iPhone!” I laughed at a few of them, but then I stopped to think. What exactly are we celebrating here? A phone that costs more than what many earn in months? An unspoken message that if you don’t have it, you’re somehow behind?
That’s where I draw the line. I see a worrying trend, a culture that glorifies consumption over contentment. Influencers, who were once admired for their creativity or perspective, now seem to measure their worth in unboxings and brand tags. I’ve seen teenagers feeling disheartened because they can’t afford the same shoes or bags their favourite influencer wears. And honestly, that breaks my heart. We are being conditioned to equate luxury with happiness and status with success. But in a world where poverty is rising, health care is strained and job insecurity is real, do we really need another reason to feel inadequate? A four-lakh-rupee phone may get you likes, but it won’t buy you peace, purpose or progress. I’m not against spending. I’ve bought things that made me happy too. But over the years, I’ve realized that what stays with me are not things — it’s experiences, relationships and lessons. The dinner with friends that made me laugh till my sides hurt, the book that shifted how I see the world, the mountain trips that humbled me — those are my real luxuries.
Influencers have the power to shift narratives. Imagine if they used that platform to talk about personal growth, saving wisely or supporting causes that matter. Real influence, to me, isn’t about showing off what you can buy — it’s about showing who you can become. The world doesn’t need more unboxing videos. It needs conversations about purpose, worth and the kind of happiness that can’t be captured in a filtered post. So before you hit “add to cart,” ask yourself: is it really something you want or something you’ve been told to want?
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Islamabad.
