Influencers epidemic

You’d think at this very stage in our lives where our worlds are so connected through all forms of social media platforms made available, the world would be a closer knit community where friendships grow closer through daily interactions. Friends can choose to be accountable for each other through a simple message. Memories can be shared easily amongst families across Facebook.

But personally, I feel the rise of the “social influencers culture” is making social media a disease. Everybody wants to be an influencer. Everybody is aiming for the X number of likes targets. Your value as a human being is being judged based on the number of followers you have. The focus on being Insta/Youtube famous is so crazy that people are no longer using social media to actually interact or communicate with each other but to promote themselves and to make a brand out of themselves. 

Nobody has the time to response to messages on Whatsapp anymore because any time that is available are dedicated to coming up with another post on Instagram or Youtube to satisfy followers in return for likes. Otherwise, it’ll be scrolling through an endless feed and double tapping away. People are no longer acknowledging each other’s existence unless you’ve posted something up on your Instagram story within 24 hour. Ignoring each other has now become a norm. 

I feel like I’m already living in an episode of Black Mirror.

Also decided to post this up here because, it’s been a while. Been a long while actually. Still constantly telling myself one of these days, I’ll dedicate more time to jotting down more thoughts on this site but like the rest of the world, I’m also caught up with Instagram. The need to constantly refresh my feed and tapping on likes, the paranoia of offending people after putting up a post / Instagram story and potentially losing followers. The social pressure of trying to be relevant and keeping up with trends. It’s a daily battle that can really take a toll on your mental health.

No wonder the number of depression cases are increasing annually.