Recently, early access has been granted to some users on Instagram. My account was also given the authority to experience the new function in advance before it was officially released, but after about three weeks of experience, I canceled it because my digital fatigue became too high. The biggest change is that the first screen of Instagram shows the release of people I don’t follow. If it’s a field I’m interested in, such as restaurants or travel, or if it’s a content that I’ve pressed Like at least once, similar short-form videos appear, but they’re too rampant.
Algorithms were once an invisible tool to make life more convenient and experience customized content, but in some cases, they force a distorted worldview or increase digital fatigue. According to the 2026 Global Consumer Forecast Report released by global research firm Mintel, consumers were able to receive personalized recommendations tailored to their taste from 2010 to 2020 without much effort thanks to algorithms, but between 2020 and 2025, as algorithms expand into daily life, tension is created and consumers feel burdened. Due to the nature of the short-form, people are addicted to the screen and often encounter meaningless scrolling or doom scrolling (negative news search habit). There is also a side effect of being overwhelmed by a huge number of options such as “Try this, drink this, go here” and suffering from endless craving.
However, the psychology that should not be overlooked here is “Cognitive Dissonance.” Simply put, it is the desire to belong to a company while rejecting trends. Consumers have opposite desires that they want to be different from others but not be completely left out. This is why they do not categorically deny trends and seek subtle variations in them. For example, they drink “local non-alcoholic lager of hand-picked microbrewery” instead of “non-alcoholic beer in trend these days.” Consumers want to consume similar but differently and “as myself.” This is why large brands are promoting “semi-universal campaigns” in the global market. Nike has shifted to a campaign that values real-time self-expression rather than individual customer data, while Starbucks has reduced AI-based recommendations and reinforced its community concept in stores.
For example, the global tea brand “Boga Wantalawa” allowed consumers to order their own tea with blended recipes, while Coca-Cola conducted a “customized content experiment” that shows different images to each user using weather, location, and emotion data. In Korea, more and more brands are showing “respect for taste.” Examples include “chefs and sommeliers who know my taste” and “spice kits tailored to personal palettes.” The canoe capsule Taylor shop pop-up store, which opened in Bukchon last month, is receiving favorable reviews from consumers. You can compare acidity and body on the spot and pack a kit with your favorite capsule among 31 capsules, and if you record your taste in a tailoring note, you can quickly complete situational recipes such as coffee you drink when you work or coffee you drink on your day off. It is an era where it is difficult to be satisfied with a single taste made by a brand, so it is an example of an experiential retail that releases fine tastes with a combination of coffee capsules.
The food and beverage market is now facing an era of restructuring tables outside the framework of algorithms. Consumers trust their subtle intuitions and choices more than data perfection, a movement that returns the initiative of choice to humans. Brands should embrace a wide range of tastes without forcing consumers to message. This is because the trend of consuming “personalized experiences” and “self-picked stories” is emerging rather than homogeneous tastes of mass production.
In an era when even one meal has become an “expansion of self-expression,” future food and beverage (F&B) marketing should be redesigned as a human rhythm. Only brands that respect consumer autonomy and leave a margin for them to explore on their own will remain on the table for the “Anti-Algebraic Generation.”
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
