Instagram spending v Reality

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Is it just me, or is there an increasingly bizarre disconnect between Instagram and real life when it comes to money?

I’m not talking about the super-rich influencers living in Dubai or those leading ridiculously extravagant lifestyles. I’m talking about the seemingly ordinary UK Instamums. The ones who present themselves as relatable, everyday women with children, houses and normal family lives.

Yet the spending is absolutely relentless.
Every school holiday seems to involve another trip abroad, there’s a constant stream of new clothes, beauty treatments, homeware, Today I watched someone buying a Chinese takeaway from Harrods 😂
I know some people earn very good money. I know some have family wealth, and I appreciate that gifted products and advertising play a part. But surely this level of constant consumption can’t be normal?
The cost of living, for households on what would be considered very healthy incomes is having a huge impact now.
Yet on Instagram it’s as though none of this is happening.
Is there genuinely a whole section of society with this much disposable income that I’m completely oblivious to?
Does anyone else find it increasingly out of touch, or have I just ended up following a particularly vapid corner of Instagram and need to delete?

Never believe what you see on social media - that's been my rule for a while.
It think its either brands gifting, people just buying and returning stuff, going into debt to buy things or having a household income which is not average.

I love following and watching but 100% not under the illusion that it is the average person.

Why don't you watch dramas/ soapopera/ films etc if you want to see fashion and interiors? That's what people traditionally used to do before social media and tv reality shows made voyeurism a pastime for so many people.
What a distorted, sick world where people spend their time looking at the lives of those who make a living out of freeloading.

I started following a few midlife women who were posting about life, loss, change of horizons, peri-menopause etc to help me get myself out of a mental rut. One in particular seemed very relatable when I first followed her funny, clever etc. Now, it seems like every other post is an awards ceremony or London society event, interspersed with her going on expensive holidays with 'the girls' or extended family groups with most of them tagged as Ad. It has become completely unrelatable. Fair play to her that she is getting all this and she is very glamorous, so it makes sense for businesses. Not so much to boring old me who can only dream of spaffing £15k on a week in the sun!

Where are you seeing this? This definitely isn’t what my friends are doing with our school holidays and we are all relatively middle class. Most of us are working a chunk of the week. We’ve gone to the beach and a pumpkin patch. I don’t even order takeaways from the normal shitty Chinese in our nearest town. It’s overpriced.

If you are looking at influencers, well, yes, that’s the point, it’s creating lifestyle content to sell products. We have an online business. We sometimes post reels of us as a family using our products. It takes all bloody day to film and is really not an enjoyable family day. Everything you see is fake. It’s just an advert for the product. My private social media and my real life is nothing like that. But that doesn’t make sales.

I've seen a few of these too. The muns talking about "normal mum struggles" and the mental load, but they have a Lovevery subscription, loads of fancy wooden toys, wardrobes full of Polarn o Pyret for their baby etc etc.

There's even a meme they share unironically about when you realise you are in a different tax bracket to someone.

Some thoughts:

• some of them are independently wealthy - high income job for them or their partner, family money etc

But even if they are not:

• if they have over say 60k followers they are making a lot of money off brand deals and affiliate links. So everything they post is designed to get people to view and then click links - it's advertising and if they have a decent number of followers they can be making a lot of money from it
• they are being "gifted" stuff which they then show in posts - it's worth it for the company because it's all advertising but they might not actually have spent any money on it
• some have had careers in marketing/branding and know how to present an aspirational so that you buy their stuff - again it's all advertising

Basically it's all advertising.

The thing that really surprises me is not the product purchases- a lot of which aren’t high value- but the properties they live in.
Stunning kitchens, bathrooms furniture etc- this is work that would’ve cost an absolute fortune and the old “it’s all on credit cards” doesn’t work for this. especially when you’re watching ie a fitness influencer and the property is nothing to do with their brand.

i do think there is a lot of money in TikTok though. And I also think a lot of self employed people aren’t so great at paying tax which takes a few years to catch up with you

A lot of those mums will be doing it for content in the hope they become influencers

Plus you can make an awful lot of money from aff links

I think Instagram is especially bad for this. I use tiktok an absolute tonne, so no judgement about social media!

But instagram and maybe Pinterest are the most visual platforms I think. And I think we are more magpie like as a species than we realise, so it is a great way for people to sell you stuff

I follow a lot of SEN mums and have noticed this too. I kind of just assume the same as I do with people that always seem to be buying things in ‘real life’-that they have a lot on credit and probably no pension or savings. I kind of ignore the silly ‘haul (read: tat) content from them and only watch the bits that I find interesting/relevant to me.

Social media is not real.

It's all the "hauls" isn't it? Even the "budget" focused ones - like the ones who buy clothes in supermarkets and share their "haul", they are spending £200ish several times a week on Tesco clothes. Then the decor hauls, the cleaning hauls, etc etc. I gather that at least some of it is gifted or sponsored, or possibly returned or worth the investment for content?

Absolutely this - it's quite disgusting.

My SIL is an influencer. She has no money and lives in a tiny chaotic house with 2 kids who never sit still.

But her socials show lots of photos of posh hotels (only travels as a freebie or with a rich friend) and weekends in country houses (stays with rich friends). Clothes for posh events are freebies or rentals. Lots of paid promotions and free tickets to events can make things look much better than they are.

she doesn't do 'hauls' or specifically show off the lifestyle, but it does look a lot more glamorous than the reality.

What I find depressing is, back in the day (pre-internet) surveys showed that many/most people felt they weren’t influenced by advertising & were quite proud of that. Now there’s an occupation called ‘influencer’ - go figure

I don’t know what social media people watch when they say this. I have visions of them sitting there watching someone in a tiny house unpacking bags of b&m cleaning products. They’re not influencers

even the biggest influencers aren’t constant advertising. Maybe a few paid promotions a week. And they’re people who are pushing out content every day. Most actual influencers end up creating their own product or brand deals- Isobel Lorna with her agenda or Lorna luxe with her clothing lines.

to read these threads you’d guess people think influencing is just hosting your own qvc Channel

See I don’t think it’s that because £200 a week at Tesco clothing is certainly a choice, but it doesn’t make you question how they got the money. It’s very attainable

I cannot, in any circumstances fathom wanting to watch someone else demonstrating a 'haul' of cleaning products.
To paraphrase a well known comment - there is no one who on their death bed will say ' I wish I had spent more time watching influencers'

I do agree with this.

I've managed to live my whole life without ever following an 'influencer' online.

I wouldn't know the vast majority of them if they bit me on the arse.

And most of what I read about them on here, is Mumsnetters criticising them, so I just don't get why they're interested in these people.

Really? You can afford £800-1600 a month on clothes while claiming you are budget concious? I am a fairly high earner and would not be able to manage that level of spending on clothes for myself.

In any case, it's the accumulation. What is a "normal" amount of disposal income a week for someone "comfortable" but not rich? I don't know, let's say £300 just as an example. So you are spending 200-400 on tesco clothes, then your £70 cleaning haul from home bargins, and £150 on halloween decor. That's before anything else.... EACH week.

I’m going to be honest I don’t follow any influencers on instagram. However it’s logic to think that if they are popular then they must have a following. Either from people who can afford the same lifestyle or from those who want to be able to.

The reality is there a plenty of people with a lot of disposable income that a take away in Harrods is not that big deal. You don’t need to an influencer or a celebrity for that.

Well you obviously have someone particular in mind re being budget conscious but I’m commenting on the OP wondering where the money comes from an no, I don’t think it’s a mystery where the smaller amounts come from.
Yes I could fund that through my salary if I chose to as I expect many adults can

I have an acquaintance who is a wanna be mum influencer. I know roughly their household income (below average) but to drive engagement she buys so much stuff to “review.”
She cant be making any money off it and her house is spotless so I suspect it all gets returned

This is the problem with all influencers! They start off relatable and likeable when they have no money, and then they get money and become completely unrelatable. The quality of their content also nose dives too because it all seems to be created with the sole intention of advertising something or being clickbait worthy to make more money.

1600 per month on just clothes, you think is a small amount?

OP makes clear she is not talking about rick Dubai influencers, spending loads. She's talking about ordinary people who apparently have limitless disposable income.

I'd be interested in what you consider an ordinary disposable income, and what you consider an ordinary household income if you thnk it's normal to spend £1500 a month on clothes, plus £100s of pounds a week on cleaning hauls, decor hauls, days out, etc?