Reimagining self-care in 2025: moving beyond social media & overconsumption
In the past few years, self-care has been excessively commodified as something we need to buy rather than aIn the past few years, self-care has been excessively commodified as something we need to buy rather than a set of activities we should practice to make us feel better. From the perfect Sunday reset routine, 10-step skincare guide to cozy loungewear hauls—social media has turned self-care into aesthetically packaged lifestyles with the likes of “IT GIRL Era” “Soft Girl Aesthetic”, “Pink Pilates Princess” and whatever the fu*k is trending right now.
Overconsumption is not self-care
Ads existed before you nor I was born. Marketing has been around for a very long time but it has never been as pervasive, intrusive and calculated as it has been in the past decade. I grew up seeing Coca Cola ads on TVs, billboards, bus stands, newspapers and magazines but these days I am pushed to see the very same ads from the comfort of my bedroom in my double bed at 2 AM in the morning as I am doom scrolling with my dog by my side. How? Because social media apps that once served as a way to connect with our communities have now turned into advertising machines paid to show us these ads while we’re in our PJs–some have even gone to the extent of monetizing our data by selling it to third parties. Cough, cough…Facebook/Meta!