When you open your phone, you’re bound to find another TikTok advising you to just buy your favorite face mask, watch an episode of Love Island, and order takeout instead of burdening yourself with another ‘productive’ task. The person advising you to do so will likely talk about how this is a deserved break from a long school day or busy 9–5, and that you deserve it. 

Breaks and leisure time are important for everyone to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Our society prioritizes productivity and a “good” work ethic to such an extent that even something as simple as taking a day off if you’re feeling under the weather leaves many with a guilty feeling of laziness. It takes away the image of the perfect student or employee while also making you feel like you didn’t do “enough.”

While awareness about this pressure to be perfect is growing with every year, the underlying messaging around “self care” ignores blatant class disparities and is heavily targeted towards a certain demographic. Self care is not an essential new cheap product you can buy off of Amazon, but a deeply entrenched practice that is only available for people with the means to afford it.

A low-income single parent who works three jobs and is barely making ends meet does not have the same opportunity to practice “self care” as a high-income earner with no one else to provide for but themselves. Pretending the two are on an even playing field in terms of wellness is a false narrative created by corporations and politicians alike to downplay their own role in contributing to a less physically and mentally healthy society. 

Similarly, online messaging is increasingly likening consumerism to stress treatment, not because there’s an actual connection between the two but because it increases business. Buying a $20 charcoal face mask is not a concrete solution to real-life issues like chronic stress, and companies are only marketing their products this way to profit off of issues affecting everyday people. 

Whether it’s the climate crisis, political polarization, global conflicts, or the anxiety that comes with relationships, stress levels have been rising steadily over the past couple of decades. Despite the fact that awareness of chronic stress and mental health issues like depression is more widespread, American society still has not adapted to fix fundamental issues that are causing modern Americans such significant stress. 

Therefore, people turn to what they are being told is the only quick fix: this new product, that takeout meal, and sleep. Taking on issues as massive as climate change and the current political climate are too titanic, and even for the most ardent change-makers, it’s simply easier to treat yourself in the name of self care culture than to lose even more sleep over existential issues. 

The newest quick fix, although possibly effective in the short term, only leads to a further cycle of financial stress and bad coping. If online shopping while eating a $25 Chipotle order is the remedy to a stressful day pushed onto an American consumer, the new factor of financial stress will likely emerge if it isn’t there already. The impact of financial strains on mental wellness is often overlooked, with many choosing instead to offer short term solutions to rising stress levels. In 2019, 37% of the adults reported the inability to cope with short-term financial  needs (National Library of Medicine). 

As much as someone could harp on about how consumerism isn’t a valid coping strategy, there is still the reality that there isn’t much of an alternative to relieve stress without having an expendable income to do so. America doesn’t have the programs that many other developed countries do in order to relieve that stress, and stress levels continue to rise. 

For those who have the means, therapy and medication are the best options to deal with anything from chronic stress to various other more serious mental health issues. Then again, in order to get these services, insurance is often required. Even for uninsured people who are able to get support they need through government programs and assistance the path to wellness isn’t completely clear, as the current administration rolls out cuts of these programs left and right. 

Relaxation and stress relief is important, but it’s more important to keep in mind that not everyone is on equal footing to begin with. Self care is not products, shopping, or anything else that benefits corporations. Truly being able to care for yourself is not having to worry about whether medical bills are covered, if you’ll be able to afford rent, or if you can put food on the table. Until those are a given for the average American, “self care” should not be manifesting itself in the form of capitalism.