One tap away

1:00 am. You can't sleep, so you scroll. An ad shows a jacket you didn't know you wanted. "Only 2 left." "Offer ends in 09:58." Your card is already saved, so one tap and Face ID and it's done. A rush of excitement. Three days later the parcel arrives and… you barely open it. The best part was the click.

Shopping is now everywhere, all the time

Online shopping has become completely normal. In 2025, 78% of internet users in the EU bought something online, and among 25–34-year-olds it was 90%. For most people that's just convenient. But when the shop is in your pocket, open 24/7, with your payment details saved, the space between "I want it" and "I bought it" shrinks to almost nothing. That space is where self-control usually does its work.

When shopping stops being about the things

Psychologists use the term compulsive buying-shopping disorder for shopping that has gone out of control: frequent, intense urges to buy, repeated failed attempts to cut back, and real harm such as debt, conflict, hidden purchases and piles of unopened items. It isn't yet a stand-alone diagnosis in the official manuals, and researchers still debate whether to call it an addiction. But the experience is very real for the people who live it.

A large new review, published in October 2026, combined 111 studies with nearly 135,000 people from 32 countries. It estimated that about 4.6% of adults in the general population show compulsive buying, and about 9.2% of students and young adults.

And it's not a "women's problem," whatever the jokes say. In representative samples, men and women were affected at similar rates. The products just differ: for one person it's clothes and skincare, for another it's sneakers, gadgets, gym supplements or skins in a video game.

The thrill is in the hunt, not the parcel

For many people, the strongest feeling comes before the purchase: browsing, finding the deal, adding to cart. Recent lab studies show how this works in people who struggle. In a 2025 study, women with online compulsive buying reacted to shopping images with stronger excitement and urges than other women. In another, compulsive buyers added items to their cart faster and spent more in a simulated online shop, driven by impulsivity. And a 2026 study that followed 900 people for 14 days found that the strongest daily predictor of overdoing it online was temptation in the moment, with pleasure and relief keeping the cycle going.

In other words, the urge is fed by cues, and online shops are full of cues.

Think about where those cues reach you: a "price drop" alert on an item you once looked at, an email that says "you left something in your cart," an influencer's discount code that expires tonight, the same pair of shoes following you from app to app. Each one is a small tap on the shoulder. On a good day you ignore them. On a tired, stressed or lonely evening they're much harder to resist, and that is often exactly when they arrive.

Then there's the parcel itself. For many people the excitement drops the moment the order is confirmed, and by the time it arrives it's just another box. That gap between the thrill of buying and the flatness of owning is one of the clearest signs that shopping is meeting an emotional need rather than a practical one.

Shops are designed to rush you

Ever seen a countdown timer that resets when you refresh the page? Or a "12 people are looking at this right now" message? These are dark patterns: design tricks that push you to decide faster or spend more than you planned.

When EU consumer authorities checked 399 online shops, 148 (about 37%) used at least one manipulative practice, including 42 with fake countdown timers. In 2024, an international check of 642 websites and apps selling subscriptions found that 75.7% used at least one possible dark pattern, most often hiding important information or making it hard to cancel.

The bottom line

Buying things isn't the problem. The problem starts when shopping becomes the main way you get excitement, comfort or a sense of control, and when the app, not you, sets the pace. Next time you feel the rush of "only 2 left," try asking yourself one question: would I still want this tomorrow morning?

If shopping is causing debt, secrecy or distress, a psychologist can help. Cognitive behavioural therapy has the most evidence for compulsive buying.

Educational guidance, not diagnosis or medical care.