How TikTok Drives Gen Z Women Into Debt
By Movieguide® Contributor
As Gen Z women spend more time on TikTok, the content they consume on the app is redefining how they shop and spend money.
Ellyn Briggs, a brand analyst at Morning Consult, explained, “TikTok is a Gen Z women-centric app, and it is setting the tone and the narrative for what is ‘hot’ online.”
“The bigger conversation is just how impactful our digital lives are on our real lives,” she added. “TikTok is driving consumption patterns in a very real way.”
“TikTok has significant influence on how the young generation spends its money, with #TikTokmademebuyit garnering more than eight billion views,” CNBC reported.
Morning Consult also found that “A larger share of Gen Z women, 75%, use TikTok compared to their male counterparts, 62%.”
Gen Z is also more willing to try new brands than older generations. “77% of Gen Z adults say they make an effort to try new brands, the highest share of any generation,” the source added.
The time spent on the app, along with trends, brands and influencers promoting various products, means Gen Zers are spending more, and their margin of debt has increased.
“Nonmortgage debt among Gen Zers rose 99.3% between March 2021 and the first quarter of 2023, according to LendingTree. Younger consumers’ debt added up to an average of $10,797. The age group’s balances spiked for personal loans and credit card balances, rising $1,292 and $1,771, respectively,” CNBC wrote.
Sofia Bera Daigle, founder of Gen Y Planning, explained the smartest thing a Gen Zer can do is “stay out of credit card debt.”
“It’s so much easier to get started on the other things if you’re not starting in a hole,” she said.
Even while Gen Z women spend money on products they discovered through TikTok, “about 59% of women are living paycheck to paycheck, compared to 41% of men, Varo Bank found. Further, 67% of women consider themselves financially fragile, or say they have little financial slack or support,” CNBC reported.
Even as spending and debt increase among younger generations, God offers a reminder in Matthew 6:19-21 that Christians’ treasure is in heaven:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Movieguide® previously reported on TikTok’s influence:
Half of U.S. adults currently get their news from social media, but their preferred platforms have shifted in recent years.
A new study from the Pew Research Center reveals that TikTok and Instagram have become more popular as news sources since 2020, while X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook have grown less popular for news content…
The number of adults who receive their news from social media has remained roughly the same since 2020 – hovering around 50% – but the platforms they turn to have dramatically shifted.
TikTok has gained the most popularity, with only 22% of its users getting news from the platform in 2020, while now 43% of users regularly consume their news on the site. Instagram has seen a similar – though less dramatic – increase rising from 28% of their users finding news on the site in 2020 to 34% in 2023.
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