Are you familiar with the word FOMO? In short, FOMO or Fear Of Missing Out is the fear of feeling "left behind" for not following certain trends. One of the causes of FOMO is the use of social media. The development of technology today makes it easy for us to be influenced by the latest trends. Currently, fast fashion is one of the trends that is popular among teenagers. Fast fashion is a term used by the textile industry for various fashion models that change in a very short time and uses poor quality raw materials, so it is not durable. Fast fashion is favored by teenagers because the models are always up to date with current fashion trends. However, as a teenager, i agree that fast fashion causes many negative impacts on Indonesian teenagers. Fast fashion often causes environmental damage, consumptive culture, and insecurity among teenagers, which is bad for their mental health.
Firstly, FOMO fast fashion behavior among Indonesian teenagers contributes significantly to environmental damage. The urge to keep buying cheap and trendy clothes in a rapid cycle results in textile waste that pollutes the environment, overuse of natural resources, and unethical production practices. According to the Global Fashion Agenda 2023, the fashion industry accounts for 92 million tons of clothing waste that accumulates in landfills every year. (“Fashion Waste Haunts The World, Recycled Fashion Increasingly Favored”, 2024). Indonesian teenagers who follow fast fashion trends are often unaware of the negative impacts they cause. Thus, fast fashion will indirectly accelerate future environmental degradation.
Secondly, The FOMO fast fashion consumptive culture among Indonesian teenagers has intensified in the social media era, where incentive promotions, viral trends and digital social pressure encourage impulsive buying behavior to keep up with the latest trends. Recent research shows that exposure to digital social media drives cross-cultural marketing strategies significantly increases consumptive behavior and hedonism in Indonesian teens, with hedonism being the main factor that amplifies teens’ emotional engagement with fast fashion products (“The Influence of Social Media and Cross Cultural Marketing on Gen Z’s Impulsive Buying of Fast Fashion with Level of Hedonism as Meditation”, 2025). This phenomenon not only impacts financial waste, but also reinforces a culture of consumerism that displaces local values and accelerates the adoption of westernized lifestyle among Indonesian teenagers.
Thirdly, Insecurity among Indonesian teenagers is increasing in the context of a fast fashion consumptive culture driven by the FOMO phenomenon in the social media era. Social media accelerates the spread of fast-changing fashion trends, so teenagers feel afraid of being outdated if they don't follow the trends, even though the trends don't always match their personal style. This fear triggers an emotional need to buy fast fashion products to be considered “up to date” and accepted in their social circle, which in turn creates insecurity about their self-image. A recent study showed that although teenagers have high social awareness of the negative impact of fast fashion, this does not significantly reduce their consumption patterns; they still choose to buy fast fashion products to fit in with the latest trends ("The Effect Of Youth Social Awareness On Fast Fashion Clothing Consumption Policies: A Study on Teenagers in Bandung City", 2024).
The FOMO phenomenon encourages Indonesian teenagers to follow the fast-changing fashion trends. Fast fashion has many negative impacts, including causing environmental damage, a bad consumptive culture, and the emergence of insecurity in teenagers. Although teenagers are aware of the negative impacts of fast fashion, this awareness is not enough to change their consumption patterns. Therefore, it is important for teenagers to be wiser in following trends so as not to harm the environment for the sake of their mental health.
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