Hyperconsumerism

An advanced, pathological form of Precarized Consumerism where consumption itself becomes the primary mode of social existence, identity formation, and psychological coping, even as the material rewards of consumption become increasingly illusory. Under hyperconsumerism, people don't just buy things—they are their purchases, their subscription services, their brand loyalties. The act of consuming replaces community, politics, religion, and family as the central organizing principle of life. Hyperconsumerism persists even—especially—when the products are garbage, the prices are exploitative, and the whole edifice rests on debt and precarity. It's consumerism as addiction, as identity, as metaphysics, divorced entirely from the original promise of satisfaction and reduced to the pure, endless, never-fulfilled act of wanting.

Example: "He had twelve streaming subscriptions he couldn't afford, a closet full of clothes he never wore, and the latest phone despite not being able to pay his rent—Hyperconsumerism had transformed shopping from an activity into his entire personality."

by Dumu The Void March 12, 2026