“Influencing” And Its Consequent Complexities

Let me paint an all-too-well-known picture for you — it’s 9PM and you decide to open your Instagram feed after a long day at work/school/whatever occupies your day. Two seconds later, a long list of aesthetically pleasing pictures occupy your screen and incite the neurons in your brain to appreciate the sheer beauty of somebody else’s brush with perfection.

The scene I just set for you may have become the unstated norm worldwide but the question remains, is it really that conducive to our mental health? Now, don’t worry, I am not going to go off on influencers “faking” these pictures or reprimand our society for not recognizing the troublesome nature of social media. On the contrary, as a 21-year-old university student, I find myself in the unique position to make a better assessment of what these “perfect” pictures have to offer.

So here we go, let’s just start with pictures themselves. As you read this article, I want you to pause for a minute and ask yourself, why do you even bother taking pictures?. Is it because you want to capture a nice moment or maybe you want to hold onto this moment for a bit longer?. Whatever it is, one way or the other, you will end up sharing these moments on social media. I mean that’s just how the 21st century works right? But the real issue arises when social media becomes a manifestation of our need to be accepted. Nobody wants pictures taken at crooked angles or those depicting a more natural pose, simply because they won’t be well-received.

And yes, candid pictures don’t compensate for our obsession with perfection. In fact, the quirky ones who do meet this ill-defined threshold end up feeding into this lie that our Instagram account is real. Rather than committing these photos to a physical binder, they find themselves lost in a virtual storm of our gallery pictures. All this begs the question, why are we so keen to subject ourselves to this giant fib? Better yet, what good comes out of this method of living?

As ascertained by most journal articles, our inherent drive to strive for perfection knows no bounds. With social media increasing our interaction with peers/acquaintances, it’s a continuous struggle to remain “interesting” online. For most people, this would just be limited to their immediate social circle but influencers bring a unique perspective to the table. Their livelihood solely relies on the ability to reach out to new people and actively push their brands when offered such an opportunity.

Sadly, the competitive nature of modern living standards is actively pushing us to put our mental health on the backburner. Our lifestyles have made us join the tirade of materialistic raison d’être and nothing good seems to be coming out of it. As a result, we have influencers endorsing and actively promoting products with the hopes of getting more brand deals down the line. Furthermore, the fragility of their popularity is exacerbated by newer/younger influencers threatening their survival at every point. Guaranteed, this predicament isn’t limited to influencers and seems to have enveloped every other profession on this planet but the susceptibility of young minds to such content needs to be factored in.

But what can we do about it realistically? It goes without saying, we can’t just eradicate the fickle existence of social media from our mundane lives (though this is debatable!). Fortunately, the decades-old comment “prevention is better than cure” seems to apply here as well. Teens/young adults need to be encouraged to use such platforms for conducive purposes i.e. help create a more accepting society and advocate for social issues. After all, internalizing the intricacies of life could prepare them for what’s to come in adulthood.

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