Online ISSN 2286-0266
Print ISSN 1223-0685
© 2025 Œconomica by ASE & SOREC
 
Mara Andreea TUDOR
University of Chicago
This study explores a novel behavioural externality in environmental economics: the relationship between social media usage and European residential water consumption. As digital self-presentation becomes an increasingly dominant social practice, particularly on visual-first platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, the concept of “performative hygiene” – personal grooming habits intensified for public display – is proposed as a significant, yet overlooked, contributor to water overuse. Utilizing cross-sectional data from 27 EU countries, this research estimates a two-stage least-squares regression model incorporating GDP per capita, education levels and cellphone access to isolate the influence of national-level social media participation on daily per capita residential water consumption. Results indicate a robust statistical relationship between social media usage and water consumption, independent of the other control variables. The study positions water not solely as a resource managed through infrastructure or pricing but as a cultural and behavioural artefact shaped by social expectations and digital performance. These findings call for interdisciplinary approaches to conservation, combining environmental policy with behavioural science and media literacy initiatives.

ŒCONOMICA no. 1/2025
Keywords: social media, digital behaviour, Instagram, performative hygiene, water consumption, environmental externalities, residential resource use, behavioural economics
JEL: Q25, Q56, D12, L86, Z13
Showering for Instagram: Performative Hygiene and the Environmental Externalities of Social Media in Europe