ONLINE INFLUENCERS-A PLAUGE

Online influencers are a relatively new phenomenon that has grown in popularity since the creation of Instagram. An influencer is a "person or thing that influences another", according to the Oxford dictionary. This means that every single person who has access to a platform is technically an influencer. Though the definition is more widely accepted as someone who has access to a wide audience and can influence their followers to think, act, or dress a certain way. When I think of an online influencer I do not think of someone with a relatively small following, I think of someone with hundreds of thousands if not millions of followers. What are the implications of this? What is good, what is bad? 

I think the pressure of giving someone a platform with hundreds of thousands of people watching them and expecting them to always be a good example is terrible. I also think that it is unfair for young girls to have such unrealistic expectations of beauty, body, and life because of Instagram influencers. In Olivia Rodrigo’s new song Jealousy, Jealousy she unpacks the issue of how Instagram and social media make people feel like their own lives are not good enough. As a whole, society has started to idolize influencers rather than understanding that they, like all of us, are humans. I think that idolizing someone for the position that they hold within a social media site is ridiculous. I think that while they are good at their jobs it does not make them worthy of being praised like God. It affects different segments of people differently. It is much easier to become an influencer if you are rich, and can buy all of the new handbags and fashion trends that are so popular. If you do not have new clothing and new accessories you will not become an influencer, period. There is a huge issue within influencers of competition. Financial competition primarily. Take one of my favorite influencers (yes I like a few): Chloe Wen! She is a “normal Nashville girl” but she just had a clothing haul on her Instagram that was worth thousands. Her jewelry? $500 apiece, at minimum.

People who aren’t rich simply cannot keep up with that sort of spending to remain popular and “relevant” as a stylish influencers. I think that the idea that you have to always have a new clothing item or purse to “flex” is harmful to the youth especially. kids younger and younger are focusing on brands and buying Supreme or Gucci when they should be focusing on being kids. Usually, influencers are young beautiful girls so older women are typically not included in this, nor our older men. Females are typically the more popular influencers because they deal more with fashion, and they are typically white. There are not a lot of minority influencers, unfortunately. All in all, influencers have changed society as a whole. Young girls are not trying to replicate movie stars anymore, they are trying to be the next Charli D’Amelio or the next Alexis Ren. This is leading countless girls and boys to develop eating disorders, seek out plastic surgery, and more. I think that the negatives of online influencers outweigh the positives. 

How do influencers affect an entire generation?

According to The Teen Magazine, “As teenagers, influencers worlds can seem like paradise, in a way they can send our self-esteem plummeting; it can increase FOMO and unfortunately create anxiety. Heck, this isn’t just relevant for teams, but for everyone who has felt this pressure exerted onto us from the ever so present and powerful social media. The truth is that people only show the sides of themselves if they want the world to see, they want you to see how beautiful they look after a break-up, how amazing your recent vacations were, and a show off their clothes that you can’t just afford. And even then, we must speculate whether the side they’re showing is even true at all, that it’s not just a fantasy they conjured up to fulfill their ego.”

The team magazine encapsulates this dichotomy well. Social media seems like fun and games, influencers seem like cool relatable people that we could be friends with in real life – but it’s not a simple as that. Influencers can and are dangerous for young girls, in particular. I’m not saying that the issues of influencers do not affect anyone else, but its effects on young girls are profound. As a young girl it is no longer expected that you must look like every other girl in your high school, no, you must now have a perfect Kardashian body, a tiny Emma Chamberlain waist, the perfect ski slope nose, and clothes that cost thousands per outfit. This is created so many problems within young girls who are already struggling with their mental health. I believe that online influencers are much bigger problems in the world likes to believe, and I hope one day their popularity will fade leaving girls back into a sense of normalcy.

How can we help?

While the plague of the influencer can seem hopeless, it is not. It is important to help the girls around us by showing them support, reminding them of their beauty, and overall serving Alice as important supporters for them to route their lives. It is important to remind young girls that they do not have to look like everyone else, they are beautiful always. 

It is also important to hold influencers accountable for any negative actions that they take. I also believe, as many lawmakers do, that it should be illegal to Photoshop an image and promote it to young fans without building that it has been re-touched. More and more lawmakers across the country and the club are now making this an illegal offense.

Until these laws are passed, the only way to combat the influence of an online influencer is to make something else carry more influence. Body positivity movements, self-help books, and other forms of affirmations can help young girls to realize that they do not have to look like every other influencer, they are beautiful the way that they are.

Citations:

https://yourstory.com/weekender/good-bad-ugly-age-social-media-influencer-facebook-instagram/amp

https://www.theteenmagazine.com/the-negative-effects-of-influencers

https://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherleighton/2019/12/13/is-instagram-bad-for-your-mental-health-body-image/?sh=7a3b26bc1e55

https://elemental.medium.com/the-case-against-following-social-media-influencers-5aa745c6583f