People are obsessed with watching influencers’ every move. Who they date, what they eat, and the things they tweet are all displayed in the media. We shouldn’t idolize influencers as much as we do because they are just humans, like us.
Influencers have huge followings that usually consist of young, impressionable teens. Just like everyone else, influencers are human and make mistakes. Influencers shouldn’t always be held to a higher standard.
People like to “cancel” influencers after they get involved in a scandal. One example of this is when makeup artist and YouTuber James Charles “betrayed” his best friend, Tati Westbrook, when he accepted sponsorship from Tati’s rival company. I think it is stupid to unfollow influencers for a scandal like that. People often forget that in their everyday lives they won’t get canceled for something an influencer would have been canceled for.
Some may argue that influencers must be held to a higher standard because of their fame. However, I think that at the end of the day they are allowed to make little mistakes like everyone else. One exception to this is if an influencer makes the same mistakes over and over again or if the influencer makes racist, homophobic, transphobic, or islamophobic remarks publicly. These things are hard to forgive, but “betraying” your best friend is not.
We also look at influencers too much to set trends. Sometimes, these trends can even be harmful. One harmful challenge that was spread by influencers was the cinnamon challenge. The cinnamon challenge is a challenge where you eat a spoonful of cinnamon without drinking water. This challenge is extremely dangerous because the cinnamon can be inhaled and hurt the lungs. Influencers spread this challenge and even did it themselves.
Young influencers like Charli and Dixie D’Amileo are idolized way too much despite being only sixteen and nineteen years old. People were cyberbullying Charli on social media when she refused to eat a snail her chef made. Who can blame her if she’s a picky eater? After all, she is just a teenager who didn’t even ask for fame.
People also complain about the power that influencers hold, but they don’t realize that we give them that power. If you watch their content out of hate, or love, you are feeding their fame. No matter what, influencers gain from both good and bad press.
These are some of the reasons why influencers shouldn’t be as idolized as they are. We are all human, after all.