In today’s societies, digitalization has radically transformed not only the methods of accessing information but also the consumption habits and social relations of individuals. Social media, which is at the center of this transformation, has become a powerful medium that shapes the lifestyles, spending behaviors and social interactions of individuals. While the culture of consumption becoming more visible through social media creates material and psychological pressures on individuals, the same platforms also enable the strengthening of the sense of social solidarity, the increase of collective awareness and the emergence of new economic opportunities. This dual effect shows that social media produces contradictory and multi-layered results at both the individual and social levels. The main purpose of this research is to reveal the effects of social media usage on consumption behaviors and social solidarity practices with a multidimensional approach. The research is based on in-depth face-to-face interviews conducted with individuals with different socioeconomic characteristics living in the city of Jalalabad in Kyrgyzstan. The subjective meanings, emotional reactions and behavioral tendencies of individuals regarding their social media experiences were analyzed using the phenomenology method, one of the qualitative research designs. The findings show that the effects of social media on individuals are distributed across various thematic areas. The first of these themes is “Consumption pressure and perception of luxury life”. Participants stated that the idealized lifestyles they frequently encountered on social media contradicted their own economic situations and that this situation created a sense of inadequacy. The second prominent theme, “social solidarity and awareness”, includes observations that social media encourages individuals to participate in aid campaigns and increases empathy. Thirdly, within the scope of the theme “perception of trust and insecurity”, it was determined that information pollution, fake content and fraudulent events encountered on social media create a sense of suspicion and insecurity in individuals. Another important finding, under the theme of “deprivation”, shows that social media content creates a sense of inadequacy in individuals, not only economically but also emotionally and socially. However, within the framework of the theme of “time management”, some participants stated that social media  helped them use their time efficiently, while a significant portion complained about distraction and loss of time. Finally, the theme of “access to economic and professional opportunities” shows that some individuals find new job opportunities or have the opportunity to promote their own initiatives through digital platforms through social media. The unique contribution of this study is that it reveals that social media is not only a medium that encourages individual consumption practices, but also paves the way for the development of social sensitivity, increased empathic communication and the formation of digital solidarity forms. At the same time, it is understood that social media platforms create unequal effects on individuals; income, education and digital literacy levels shape these interactions in a decisive way. The results of the study provide an important basis for re-evaluating social media policies, increasing digital awareness training and developing critical reflexes against consumer culture.