If a stranger at the mall was trying to sell us a product, we’d ask questions. But show us a 20-second TikTok about it, and suddenly our card is already being charged.

TikTok trends are influencing the everyday purchases of its users. Specifically, users in my generation who have become very trusting of TikTok, turning research into an afterthought.

Every day, people are buying items based almost exclusively on the opinion of whoever they saw promoting it. Unfortunately, this often does not work out well.

“I wound up being allergic because the filling is not all pistachio. It’s also cashew, which I’m allergic to. I should have looked at the ingredients,” said Kayla Rogers after purchasing a chocolate bar from Dubai.

Discussing TikTok viewers who purchase based on these videos, she said, “I think they just binge watch reactions and don’t look deeper into the product or purposefully look at negative reviews.”

Mary Tangalos agrees. “I bought a bra that I sort of looked into, and I saw multiple people promoting it. It was OK, but I should’ve looked for more videos that weren’t just promoting the item.”

Tangalos said TikTok-inspired buyers are probably doing “less research… overall” because they’ve seen a video that got them excited to make the purchase.

Now think about it. Have you ever bought, or come close to buying, something simply because it was promoted to you on TikTok? If you have, did you really research the item, or did you trust a few trending reactions and hit “add to cart?”

As TikTok continues to shape what we purchase and why, it’s important to consider whether trends or “convenience” are replacing researched decision making.

*Author’s note: Interviews for this article were conducted via text messaging.