Usage of the flexible payment method hit an all-time high on Cyber Monday, driving $1.03 billion in online spend (up 4.2% YoY), as consumers looked for greater flexibility in managing their holiday budgets. The vast majority of BNPL transactions are happening on a mobile device as well, at 79.4% share on Cyber Monday (vs. desktop). In an Adobe survey of over 1,000 U.S. consumers (conducted Nov. 2025), respondents said they were most likely to use BNPL for electronics, apparel, toys, and furniture purchases.
Source: Adobe Analytics.
I would just reject consumerism and not buy anything. You very rarely save money by buying things, maybe some tools, or seeds/cuttings for things you can grow to eat.
This is the same as “I would just have a better job.”
Some normal folks are out there, trying to give their kids as normal a life as they can despite their financial circumstances and not all of them are as enlightened as you claim to be online.
This wasn’t a hypothetical. I lived on apprenticeship wages for a few years
And I just got a better job after having a bad one.
I’ve also known addicts who’ve quit.
Does that mean “just get a better job” “just quit your addiction” and “reject consumerism” are reasonable answers to people struggling?
Great points
Hey ya think if the coolest thing ever were rejecting consumerism it’d make it palatable? Like your kids’ friends relish in having only three high-quality outfits or something, and read library books for fun… (like their parents)… then maybe your kid doesn’t beg for the cool new toy.
Pipe dream ya just thinking in that case if commenting about rejecting consumerism helped spur a trend it might be OK. Think TikTok driving Stanley thermos sales but the opposite
Edit: “can we get minimalism viral again”
I’ve legit wondered about this and one of the many reasons I don’t want kids is I don’t think it’d be fair to inflict my lifestyle on them, no matter how morally correct I feel.
My basic thought though is that as long as social media is the dominant means by which cultural trends are spread and amplified, anti-consumerism will be hard to spread.
Once modern social media became dominant, social justice pivoted from our own sins (wearing slave made clothes, children losing limbs for our new phones etc) and switched to dunking on public figures and large systemic forces. I think that’s because it’s much easier to share, make jokes about etc evils that you are not currently doing. That is to say, it’s a lot easier to make memes about say, OscarsSoWhite when none of us are in the Academy than say, “my shoes are made by kids who occasionally burn to death” while many folks are wearing those types of shoes.
the thing I don’t understand with so many people being paycheque to paycheque is that, like, you need to come up with the money sooner or later. so just don’t fucking spend it on what you don’t absolutely need, and build up some savings.
like, I get that some people are literally hand to mouth, I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about the people with a 2 year old car and newer clothing who claim paycheque to paycheque but use BNPL schemes. that’s just shitty financial decisions. if you’re financing every gift season, maybe… just save up a bit of money before each gift season by cutting back temporarily on something else? or do you like paying extra to be in debt unnecessarily? you clearly have the capacity to repay the loan, so just save for it ahead of time and pay less overall because no fees…
Yeah I don’t know either. I never learnt to drive because of the cost so I didn’t even have a car.