I saw a TikTok where a girl asked, “What are we all asking for Christmas this year?” The comments filled up instantly, not just with gift ideas, but with advice on how to find them. “Search up Christmas wishlists on TikTok and just copy them,” someone wrote.

There’s no need to ask people what they want for Christmas anymore. TikTok will tell you. Scroll long enough and the algorithm will hand you a perfectly curated wishlist: Stanley cups, Ugg minis, the same vanilla perfumes that’ve been trending since 2022.  That’s when it hit me. In 2025, virality beats advertising. But also, when did we stop thinking for ourselves? Since when did wishlists become crowd-sourced? We’re shopping on autopilot, asking not what do I want, but what’s everyone else wanting?

No one writes wishlists anymore. We just scroll.

TikTok decides what we want, what we should buy, and what we’ll pretend to be surprised by on Christmas morning. A viral clip can move more product than a whole marketing department — it’s efficient, hypnotic, a little dystopian.

We’re not choosing gifts anymore; we’re copying trends. And somehow, that feels perfectly normal. Today, I'm questioning why... taking a closer look at how social media trends (especially TikTok) now decide what actually ends up under the tree and why that might be harmful to society in terms of rampant consumerism, a creeping loss of critical thinking, and a lack of our own originality.

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TikTok: The New Gift Catalog

Gone are the days of dog-earing the Argos catalogue and circling half the toy section in red pen. The new Christmas list lives on the For You Page. TikTok has become the de facto Christmas catalogue with endless loops of “Gift Guides for that friend,” unboxing videos, GRWMs, and “things you didn’t know you needed", effectively replacing old-school catalogs and even Google searches. It’s all perfectly packaged relatability — selling without ever calling it selling.

It’s part of the platform’s genius: it has turned shopping into social behaviour. We buy from people who look like us, talk like us, and pretend they’re not trying to sell us anything. The genius of it all is that it feels real. 79% of users say they’re influenced by what other people post, and they’re not wrong to be — the peer pressure is algorithmically precise.

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When Virality Beats Advertising

One reason TikTok-driven trends are so powerful is sheer speed and scale. A viral TikTok can achieve in hours what traditional advertising might hope to do in months. A single video can do in hours what a full campaign might take months to achieve. One skincare product goes viral, and by sunset it’s sold out nationwide. A cleaning spray, a pair of leggings, a random gadget no one thought they needed — suddenly they’re everywhere.

Brands have taken notice. Traditional advertising is struggling to keep up with TikTok’s whirlwind culture of virality. Why pour money into billboards or magazine spreads when a clever TikTok clip by an influencer can reach millions for a fraction of the cost? Companies today are investing heavily in influencer marketing and TikTok campaigns, knowing that consumers are more likely to trust a relatable creator’s recommendation than a polished TV spot. Studies confirm that people (especially younger generations) tend to trust influencers and social media content more than traditional ads, making them more likely to buy products seen on TikTok or Instagram. As a result, even legacy brands are reallocating budgets: many have leaned into social-media-centric marketing to court Gen Z shoppers, rather than relying on old-school channels. It’s not that advertising is dead – it’s that viral buzz is often more effective and certainly faster. When a trending TikTok can propel a product like, say, a particular tumbler cup or self-heating mug, into overnight must-have status, it’s clear that virality now frequently beats traditional advertising at putting products under the Christmas tree.

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The Copy-Paste Wishlist Syndrome

While it’s fun to ride the wave of what’s popular, there’s a downside to all this trend-driven gifting: call it the Copy-Paste Wishlist Syndrome. That TikTok advice to “just copy someone else’s Christmas wishlist” might have been tongue-in-cheek, but plenty of people are essentially doing just that. The result is a whole lot of sameness in what we desire and give. The hottest gifts of the year are increasingly identical for millions of people because they all scrolled past the same viral gadgets on their For You page. It raises the question: are we choosing these gifts because we genuinely want them, or simply because everyone else on TikTok does?

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Psychologists would point to herd mentality and social proof at work here. Herd mentality is the tendency to adopt behaviors or ideas simply because others are doing so, and it’s deeply ingrained in us (evolutionarily, following the crowd was often safer than going solo). In the social media age, people accept behaviors or ideas just because a large number of other people are doing the same. Psychologist Robert Cialdini famously described social proof as looking to others to gauge what’s “correct” or desirable. If we see peers and influencers all clamoring for a certain product, we naturally assume it must be legit and worthwhile. TikTok makes this feedback loop nearly instant. Open the app, and if everyone is talking about, say, a particular skincare fridge or a new game console, it plants the idea that this is the gift to want. We become “more prone to believe that a trend is legitimate or appealing when we witness peers or influencers following it”.

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The consequence is a loss of originality in our gift-giving (and getting). Choosing a gift used to involve some personal reflection – what does my friend really want? what suits my style or hobbies? Now it’s often a quick trip to TikTok’s search bar to see what’s trending in “#ChristmasWishlist”. The app’s algorithm does the thinking for us, serving up a ready-made list of “cool” things. It’s convenient, sure, but also a bit unsettling. Our wishlists are becoming carbon copies of each other. Ask a group of teens what they want this year, and you might hear the same TikTok-famous items repeated verbatim. The pressure to get whatever has the most likes or views erodes the notion that a gift should be something personally meaningful or unique to the recipient. In the quest to be on-trend, we risk turning into Holiday Shopping NPCs, all picking from the same limited menu of viral items.

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The Downside: Consumerism and the Lost Art of Critical Thinking

Beyond just lack of originality, there’s a broader societal downside to TikTok-driven gifting: skyrocketing consumerism and a decline in critical thinking around our purchases. Social media has essentially gamified shopping. The dopamine rush of finding the next viral “must-have” can lead to impulsive buying and overconsumption. TikTok’s endless feed of product plugs can make it feel like everyone is buying X, Y, or Z, triggering the fear of missing out if you don’t join in. As Teen Vogue reported, a slew of niche products have gone “from marginally popular or somewhat well known to selling out across retailers, all thanks to TikTok” – an indication of how the app can whip up a buying frenzy. It’s not always stuff we need either; often it’s quirky gadgets or aesthetic decor that looked cool for 15 seconds in a video. This trend-driven shopping mania feeds a cycle of “buy, because everyone else is buying”.

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Some creators are starting to push back on this TikTok-fueled overconsumption. A recent “deinfluencing” movement urges people to think twice before chasing every trend. This sentiment cuts to the core of the issue: mindlessly following social media trends in shopping is essentially surrendering your own judgment. It’s a form of peer pressure mixed with algorithmic suggestion. TikTok’s AI-driven algorithm is superb at what it does – keeping us engaged – and to do so it floods our feeds with whatever is trending and “addictive.” A leaked TikTok document even revealed that the platform is designed to push highly engaging, “addictive” content to maximize viewer watch time. When that content happens to be a viral product review or unboxing, millions of users will see it repeatedly. The algorithm creates a massive echo chamber for the trend, making the product almost inescapable. In such an environment, it’s easy to confuse virality with true value. The critical thinking part of our brain can get numbed as we subconsciously start believing “I saw it everywhere on TikTok, so it must be good – I want one too.”

The harm of this mindset extends beyond just individual taste – it contributes to a culture of consumerism where novelty and hype override thoughtful consumption. People end up buying things because they’re popular, not because they genuinely needed or even deeply desired them. We’ve all heard stories of TikTok sensations that ended up in closets gathering dust after the hype wore off. On a societal level, this means more waste and more money spent keeping up with the Joneses (or rather, the TikTok Joneses). It can also create anxiety or dissatisfaction; if your holiday haul isn’t the same as the viral “What I got for Christmas” videos, do you feel you’re missing out? These are the subtle psychological pressures of trend-driven gifting.

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As we head into the holidays, there’s no doubt that TikTok will continue to wield huge influence over wishlists and shopping carts. The platform’s ability to elevate products overnight is impressive. Virality has truly become the new kingmaker for what ends up under the tree. But it’s worth remembering that the best gifts aren’t necessarily those with a million views. While it’s fun (and often useful) to discover cool new things via social media, we should be wary of becoming mere conduits for the algorithm’s suggestions. There’s a difference between wanting something and being told to want it. By all means, enjoy the TikTok gift guides and the thrill of a viral deal, but don’t forget to pause and ask: “Is this me? Is this something I (or my loved one) truly want, or just the trend du jour?” A little originality and critical thinking in our gifting can go a long way. After all, the most memorable presents are the ones chosen with heart and individual thought – not just those that happened to be trending on a screen. In a world where TikTok might fill our stockings, it’s up to us to keep our minds (and wishlists) our own.