The New Consumer: From Keeping Up to Standing Out

On a Saturday afternoon, Ishan, a college student, opens Instagram and sees the same pair of sneakers for what feels like the fifth time that day.

A creator is wearing them in a “day in my life” video. A friend has posted a picture of the same pair. Another reel calls them the season’s must-have. By the time Ishan opens a shopping app, the purchase almost feels inevitable.

Then he pauses. Do I actually want these sneakers, or have I simply seen them enough times to believe that I do?

He closes the app. Nothing was bought. Nothing was posted. Yet this small decision captures a subtle shift in the relationship between identity, social influence and consumption: perhaps keeping up is no longer the only way to participate.

For years, Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) has been a powerful force in consumer behaviour. If everyone has the latest phone, wears the same sneakers or visits the same café, not participating can create a sense of being left behind.

But what happens when a consumer becomes comfortable with missing out?

That is where JOMO, or the Joy of Missing Out, enters the picture. Rather than worrying about what others are doing, JOMO is about finding satisfaction in choosing not to participate. The logic shifts from “I need to keep up” to “I do not need to participate just because everyone else does.”

There may, however, be a third response: SOLO: Standing Out, Leaving Out. Unlike JOMO, where popularity becomes irrelevant to the decision, SOLO makes popularity itself a reason for rejection. The consumer does not merely say, “I do not need it”; they may think, “I do not want it because everyone has it.” Non-participation becomes a form of differentiation.

Together, FOMO, JOMO and SOLO suggest three relationships with the crowd: FOMO seeks belonging through participation; JOMO finds freedom in opting out; SOLO seeks individuality through opting out. They may also reflect a broader shift in how young consumers decide what is worth buying.

From “Everyone Has It” to “Do I Need It?”

Gen Z is hardly disconnected from consumption. A 2024 Boston Consulting Group and Snap study estimated that Indian Gen Z already accounts for about 46% of consumer spending, worth around $860 billion, and projected that within a decade, roughly every second rupee spent across consumer categories could come from a Gen Z wallet.

So the story is not that young consumers are walking away from shopping. The shift is more nuanced: they may be becoming more selective about why they buy, rather than simply what they buy.

Social media remains central. A 2024 PwC survey found that 77% of Indian consumers discover brands through social media, while 57% reported purchasing through social platforms. Among Gen Z, influencer and celebrity recommendations also influence purchasing decisions.

This creates an important paradox. The same generation questioning popular trends is discovering products through the platforms that amplify those trends.

The shift, therefore, is not simply from consumption to non-consumption. It is from automatic consumption to evaluated consumption: from “I need this because everyone has it” to “I need to decide whether this is worth it for me.”

The Business of Selling “Less”

Businesses are already responding to this mindset. If consumers are less interested in products simply because they are popular, brands have another way to make them desirable: selling them as expressions of individuality. The language of advertising is consequently changing. Instead of “Everyone is buying this,” the message shifts toward “This is for people who know what they want.”

The irony is obvious. The consumer trying to escape consumerism can still be sold something.This does not mean such purchases are meaningless. Buying a durable product instead of repeatedly replacing cheaper ones can represent a genuinely different consumption pattern.

The question is whether the underlying behaviour has changed or whether consumerism has simply learned a new vocabulary.That may be the biggest challenge for brands targeting Gen Z. Calling something “authentic” is no longer enough. If consumers are becoming more sceptical, companies may have to demonstrate authenticity through product quality, transparency and credible claims.

When Choice Is Being Designed

There is another side to this shift: how much freedom does a consumer have when digital platforms are designed to influence behaviour?

Imagine Ishan returning to the shopping app. The sneakers are available for “only 10 more minutes.” A notification says several other people are viewing them. The price appears discounted, but additional charges emerge at checkout.

Each technique compresses deliberation into urgency. A moment of hesitation can become a perceived need to act immediately.

This makes consumer protection increasingly relevant. India’s Central Consumer Protection Authority introduced the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023, addressing practices designed to manipulate consumers online, including false urgency, disguised advertisements, subscription traps and drip pricing.

Influencer marketing presents a related challenge when personal recommendation and commercial communication become blurred. The Advertising Standards Council of India’s guidelines require disclosures when influencers have a material connection with a brand, including payment, free products or other benefits.

These rules matter because JOMO and SOLO ultimately depend on meaningful choice. A consumer cannot genuinely choose to opt out if the digital environment makes opting out feel costly, urgent or socially undesirable. For a SOLO consumer, the problem is even more interesting: if platforms continuously amplify what is popular, even the desire to stand apart can be shaped by the same system the consumer is trying to resist.

Regulation cannot eliminate persuasion, nor should it. Advertising is part of a functioning marketplace. But transparency can preserve meaningful choice.

The distinction matters because opting out can itself become a statement of identity. A consumer may not simply be avoiding a purchase; they may be deciding what kind of consumer they want to be.

So, Is Gen Z Rejecting Consumerism?

Returning to Ishan, he did not delete Instagram. He did not stop shopping. He simply decided not to buy one pair of sneakers. That single decision does not prove that Gen Z is abandoning consumerism.

What may be changing is the relationship between consumption and identity.

FOMO says: Buy this so you do not get left behind.

JOMO says: I do not need to participate just because everyone else is.

SOLO says: I choose not to have it precisely because everyone else does.

But there is also a fourth possibility: I will buy it because I genuinely want it, not because I am afraid of missing out, nor because I want to stand apart. That may be the more important shift.

Gen Z may not be moving from consumerism to non-consumption. It may be moving from automatic consumption to more intentional consumption, where the question is no longer simply “What is everyone buying?” but “Why do I want this?”

For businesses, this creates a different challenge. If consumers become less responsive to FOMO, brands may need to compete for something harder to manufacture: trust, relevance, individuality and genuine value. Yet there is an irony here. JOMO can be marketed, SOLO can be marketed, and even the desire to reject consumerism can become another form of consumption.

The real test is not whether Gen Z buys less. The quantity matters less than the reasoning behind the purchase, in the end. It is whether young consumers become better at recognising why they buy, and whether that reason is genuinely their own.

Because if Ishan can close the shopping app without feeling that he has missed anything, that may be a small sign of a much bigger change.

Perhaps the future of consumerism will not belong to the generation that buys the most, or even the generation that buys the least. It may belong to the generation most confident about deciding what is actually worth buying, and why.

References:

Blog by Agastya and Alakh, M.Com. Students

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