Consumption without awareness: Invisible spending and financial literacy in a digital world
Published 2025-12-25
Keywords
- Financial Literacy, Digital Consumption, Invisible Spending, Emotional Factors, Youth
- Finansal Okuryazarlık, Dijital Tüketim, Görünmez Harcama, Duygusal Faktörler, Gençlik
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Copyright (c) 2025 Büşra Ökten

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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Abstract
The easy accessibility of digital products, the fact that they become unnoticed payment items with automatic payment instructions, and their inclusion in the budget as invisible expenditures make financial planning difficult. The survey, administered online to 316 people, includes questions on demographic characteristics, digital and physical consumption habits, and conscious spending tendencies. Data were collected from individuals aged 12 or older living in Turkey using snowball and convenience sampling methods. The data were analysed using SPSS 25.0. Descriptive analysis methods were used, and the Chi-Square Test and nonparametric tests were applied to examine relationships between variables. The results of the research show that digital consumption is more common among the younger generation, that people who shop more when they are unhappy are those who do not make budget plans, and that physical consumption habits continue in the digital realm as well. This research examined digital product consumption habits and raised awareness of financial literacy in the context of digital consumption.
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