Do social media influencers actually do harm?

In a world filled with “influencers,” we need sincere voices more than ever.

Happy Friday,

When my daughter was a teenager, I wouldn’t let her buy teen magazines. I told her they’d just make her feel bad about herself.

That’s what they do.

They push buttons and make girls feel fat and ugly and unpopular and unfashionable so they’ll buy the stuff advertised in the magazines.

Now it’s not magazines anymore.

It’s Instagram and YouTube and TikTok and every other site kids migrate to once their parents find the platform they’re on.

Easy to toss a magazine in the trash. Not so easy to toss the entire internet in the trash. Zillions of girls are learning what “woman” means from the Kardashians and other social media “influencers.”

One of the Kardashian clan lost her mind because someone put an unfiltered photo on the internet. Heaven forbid her millions of followers should know what she looks like without filters because that’s not going to help sell endorsed products.

According to their momager, they charge six figures per endorsed post. That’s just for fashion and such. More for products you eat, drink, or put on your skin.

So for “more than” six figures, Kylie can promote hair vitamins nevermind that she’s wearing extensions and diet products, nevermind that she’s been medically sculpted.

Do social media influencers actually do harm?

Everyone is going to have their own opinion on that. Some people think they’re self centered but basically harmless. Caveat emptor and all that. Buyer beware.

According to Forbes, Joe Rogan is world’s top podcaster. His podcast is downloaded nearly 200 million times per month and earned him 30 million in 2019, making him the highest paid podcaster in the world.

For the last couple of months, he’s been using his gargantuan platform to downplay Covid, telling people it’s not a big deal.

Couple of days ago, he said young healthy people don’t need to get vaccinated.

That was enough for Dr. Anthony Fauci, who promptly got on NBC's Today Show, and said Rogan was incorrect. He cited the danger of transmitting the virus to the vulnerable members of society, regardless of an individual’s health.  

Good one, Fauci. A young healthy person who’s not “worried” about covid might not get sick, but might pass it on to Mom or Dad, or Grandma.

What if you’re wrong?

That’s a question not enough people ask. If you wear and mask and we’re wrong about Covid, no one gets hurt. But if you don’t wear one and you’re wrong, people die. Maybe people you love.

It’s not just Covid. Some guy took a supplement he heard about online and ended up in emergency surgery.

I know a couple who invested everything they owned into a “hot” stock tip. Now they’re broke and trying to live on the pension that barely stretches to cover the bills.

They didn’t ask themselves what if they’re wrong.

If they had, they would have only invested what they could afford to lose.

But there’s another side effect of those people…

All those influencers and self promoters are why a lot of creative people hide in the shadows. They don’t ever want to sound like that.

I hear that almost every day. People tell me they can’t bring themselves to “promote themselves” or “get their name out there.”

They think it means talking about themselves all the time.
Like being the Kardashians of self publishing. lol.
They can’t even stomach the idea, and thank God for that.

If you read on Medium, think about the people you enjoy reading. The people you’d go looking for if they didn’t show up in your feed for a while.

I bet they don’t talk about themselves incessantly. You don’t have to, either.

A woman I know was bullied as a kid. Bullied at school and abused at home. She didn’t want to talk about that, though. She thought it would be depressing. So she started a site to share the stories of people who overcame adversity.

I wish I could share her name and site, but she’s from the same place I am, and that’s just a dumb thing to share on the internet as a single Mom.

Point is, she never once shone the light on herself.
She shone it on everyone else.

In a world filled with “influencers,” we need sincere voices more than ever.

:)

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Thought for the day

“When pure sincerity forms within, it is outwardly realized in other people's hearts. ”

~Lao Tzu

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Have a great weekend…

xo,
Linda