Influencers seem to be everywhere! They go to the greatest parties, wear the coolest clothing, and live the most beautiful and interesting lives and the beautiful thing is: they share it all with you on Instagram. But how real is all this? Have influencers simply achieved a life of only ups and no downs? Is a perfect life really possible? By looking at their profiles, they almost have me convinced…
To Influence, Inspire or What Really?
Almost everyone nowadays is on Instagram, constantly scrolling through stories, posts, and explore pages. The app is filled with the content of influencers, but aside from influencer marketing, how do they influence their followers? Although their main purpose is often creating content for brands, their presence on social media is all about showing off their ‘perfect lifestyle’. This indeed seems to influence their followers, however maybe not in such a positive way. This ‘perfect picture’ they are presenting pushes for an unrealistic beauty- and lifestyle standard. It creates pressure among their followers to live a life just as perfect, but since it’s not reality, this is of course far from attainable.
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“If it’s not on Instagram, did it even happen?” – Uknown
While many people may strive to live life like an influencer (or even aspire to become an influencer themselves), it may come with a prize. Not only the prize of expensive shoes or advertisements to attract attention to your profile… No, I am talking about the toll which attaining perfection could take on your mental health. Living your life focused on achieving a certain amount of likes and followers can be draining and take you out of the present moment. Being an influencer should not be taken lightly. Creating the perfect post takes a lot of thought and attention, from the right lighting to the most effective tags and timing. After all, being an influencer is considered a job. This is what should be taken into account when consuming the content which these influencers make: it’s not representative of their whole life, just of a carefully presented and captured moment.
Let’s Get Real
Good news! Fortunately, it’s becoming more common for influencers to get real on their profile. As may be motivated by the shared experiences of covid quarantine and the emotional rollercoaster that has come with it, influencers are coming out with their own struggles. Yes, influencers are real people with feelings, too (as we might have forgotten just looking at their perfect model pictures)! Influencers sharing posts of them crying, being open about gaining weight, or dealing with a mental or physical illness seem to have become more common. This is a great improvement because especially for younger people active online, it is important to see what’s going on beyond the veil. That perfect picture is of course aesthetically pleasing, but let’s not get confused! Pictures in this case do NOT speak a thousand words. It captures a moment, and a moment only. Let’s stay real; nobody is perfect, and neither are influencers.
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