Common Sense Media: Spending Traps
Have you ever seen a video or post and suddenly found yourself wanting something you didn’t know existed five seconds ago? That’s not an accident. In this lesson, students examine how companies have always used media to influence consumer spending—and investigate what it means now that AI-powered social shopping features are turning every video in your feed into a potential ad. Using a real-life dilemma, students explore the psychology behind spending traps and debate whether platforms should have the power to target your brain every time you scroll.
Objectives
- Recognize how media has historically been used to influence consumer behavior
- Define spending traps and identify examples in digital and non-digital media
- Evaluate the ethics of social shopping features using the Take a Stand thinking routine
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Have you ever seen a video or post and suddenly found yourself wanting something you didn’t know existed five seconds ago? That’s not an accident. In this lesson, students examine how companies have always used media to influence consumer spending—and investigate what it means now that AI-powered social shopping features are turning every video in your feed into a potential ad. Using a real-life dilemma, students explore the psychology behind spending traps and debate whether platforms should have the power to target your brain every time you scroll.
Objectives
- Recognize how media has historically been used to influence consumer behavior
- Define spending traps and identify examples in digital and non-digital media
- Evaluate the ethics of social shopping features using the Take a Stand thinking routine