Social Media in a Consumer Society

After reading the infographic  about social media's influence on buyer decisions, I am sad to say that I was not shocked by the figures presented.  Sellers are constantly bombarding social media users with advertisements with every scroll of the mouse or swipe of the finger... And according to these statistics, it definitely works. I mean, I can barely scroll down my Facebook timeline without being persuaded into buying a whole new wardrobe from Tobi!

One specific statistic that stood out to me was that "41 percent of people who found the item they purchased because they just happened upon it said that they hadn't even thought about buying it or something like it."  That's a pretty large statistic, but I'd like to see how it compares to shoppers in the mall who "just happened upon" an item they purchased.  We live in a consumerist society.  With constant promotion of purchasing, it is natural for us to buy things that appeal to us when they are presented.  However, social media has allowed sellers to constantly be presenting goods to us.  Does a society defined by consumerism really need further encouragement to consume?  Consumerism suggests that we need to buy and buy and buy to remain happy.  But still, that happiness is only temporary until we need to buy something else.

While I appreciate the occasional helpful advertisements that remind me of something that I actually need.  I do not appreciate the constant reminder that I need to buy more and more to be happy taking over the feeds of all my social media.  My wallet definitely doesn't appreciate it either.