The dangerous effect of influencer culture
By: Lucy June
Tags: Culture, Social Media, Careers, Influencers, Model

Photo by Lacie Slezak on Unsplash

If I hear one more person say ‘I’m an influencer’ I will officially lose my faith in humanity. Being an influencer is not a job! That might either shock or offend people when I say that but despite how much photos you put up on your Instagram, that does not make you a working individual. Yes, you might you get paid 3x extra than an average person would, but are you actually working as hard?

Don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of people who do get paid for putting up social media posts but they do other jobs as well like, content creation whether it is on YouTube or radio etc, work with organisations to help others, go to events etc but for me that is not a proper ‘influencer’ for me that is a ‘media personality’. Influencer’s whose prime job is to post photos on social media for me is not a job and setting a bad example for younger people who might look up to that person. Oh, to be noticed or to be ‘cool’ I need to post a photo of a tooth paste bottle next to me? Oh, come on.

I have worked with a lot of influencer’s before and I know first hand it is does not take up a lot of time or work to put these photos, it’s in fact the people who are working behind the scenes who do all the work for them! So, if these influencers’ main job is to post photos then it leads me to my first point, it isn’t a job.

I may sound like an anti-influencer but I’m not. I am friends with quite a few online personalities and they are very nice but I am just concerned about what influencer’s are sharing to their younger following and the wrong example it is setting for reality. Let’s say a young person is at school, trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives and they come across a person online taking photos of them next to a product smiling or pouting to the camera. They will think to themselves ‘hey I want to do that one day’. No! We want to show young people the importance to WORK HARD and enjoy what you do. ‘What about actors in commercials’ you may ask. That is different. Yes, it is someone overly smiling and promoting a product, but they are actors and in most cases, worked hard to get to that commercial (I would know having been in one before).

Influencer’s are setting a bad example to today’s younger generation and we need to stop putting it out there that to be successful you got to look a certain way and have a large social media following. Influencer’s do help smaller brands do get noticed which is an upside but I still think it sets a false example. I want younger people- and even older people to know that it doesn’t matter how many likes you get or how cute you look in a photo to determine you in your career. That is just a small portion of the other big, amazing (proper jobs) out there for every type of person and skill set. So, don’t compare yourself to these ‘influencer’s’ and think for a second that this is a job you would be satisfied in. Working hard is the biggest satisfaction especially when you look back on how much you have achieved.

Lastly, aren’t influencer’s meant to be influential? How is posting a photo half naked on the internet influential? The end.