Do you spend hours watching your favorite TikTok star show new dances, hacks, and fashion trends? Or check a famous singer’s Instagram feed numerous times a day? If you answered yes to the above questions, you are not alone. Statistics indicate that the average American spent more than thirteen hundred hours on social media in 2021, contributing to the popularity of “Influencer Culture (Forbes, 2021).”
Influencer culture refers to “The social phenomenon of individual internet users developing an online community over which they exert commercial and non-commercial influence (”Influencer,” 2022).
While it can be fun to mindlessly scroll through our social media feeds, this phenomenon affects people more than it appears to. Influencer culture contributes to many issues among today’s youth, such as overdosing on screen time, damaged self-esteem, and an obsession with achieving the perfect, “aesthetic” image (Cheah, 2020). Evie Magazine describes the future effects of Generation Z’s obsession with influencer culture, stating that for children affected by influencer culture, “their self-worth will be determined by how much approval they can gain from other people - i.e., the number of followers and their subscriber count. This is not only a recipe for a lifetime of unhappiness, but it is also a surefire way to lead a life of meaninglessness.” Some critics of 21st century influencer culture say Generation Z has gotten carried away with their obsession with celebrities. Though that is a valid point, the real question is: Is influencer culture a new phenomenon, or is it just presented differently today than it was years ago?
How is a young girl who grew up adoring Marilyn Monroe any different from a girl who adores one of the D’Amelio sisters? The answer is that the concept is not different, but the methodology is.
The definition of influencer culture includes the word “internet.” Considering the internet was only created a few decades ago (January 1, 1983, to be exact), the most significant difference between influencer culture then and influencer culture now is the presence of the universal technology system (McLean, 2022). In today’s society, scrolling through TikTok is the equivalent of flipping through magazine pages from years ago. Similarly, a YouTube video with a million views is equal to a 70’s Vogue issue that sold one million copies. No matter the time period, people tend to closely identify themselves with the celebrities of their time, thus contributing to the continual occurrence of influencer culture.
The generation gap is evident, but the mindsets of both are inevitably the same. In the words of French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,” meaning, “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”
Works Cited
Cheah, S.G. “Why Influencer Culture Is Dangerous.” Evie Magazine, Https://Images.ctfassets.net/ydv6sq0kb5bw/VPXcVUzPNoYjdNmMuwo8m/a2be598830e9b26d963308c6e3cab05b/Evie-Logo.png, 25 Apr. 2020, https://www.eviemagazine.com/post/why-influencer-culture-is-dangerous.
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. “Influencer Culture: Lights, Camera, Inaction? - Digital, Culture, Media ...” UK Parliament, 9 May 2022, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmcumeds/258/report.html.
Doyle, Brandon. “Tiktok Statistics - Everything You Need to Know [Aug 2022 Update].” Wallaroo Media, 13 Aug. 2022, https://wallaroomedia.com/blog/social-media/tiktok-statistics/.
McLean, Caitlin. “When Was the Internet Invented? What to Know About the Creators of It and More.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 28 Aug. 2022, https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2022/08/28/when-was-internet-created-who-invented-it/10268999002/.
Navigation, North. “The More Things Change, The More They Remain The Same.” Navigation North, 14 Mar. 2022, https://navigationnorth.com/news/the-more-things-change-the-more-they-remain-the-same/.
Suciu, Peter. “Americans Spent on Average More Than 1,300 Hours on Social Media Last Year.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Dec. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2021/06/24/americans-spent-more-than-1300-hours-on-social-media/?sh=441af4ec2547.
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