Being an Influencer is pretty much an official job now in our current age. These people work as hard as anyone else in any occupation, and yet sometimes they get shit for it. It’s unfair, and most of the time it’s because of some nasty influencers in the basket.
However, every job has a defined boundary to be adhered to, but what’s the limit for such jobs? Can they do anything want and still get away with it?
And I’m not only talking about horrible acts, but I’m also talking about the irresponsible ones.
For instance, Sun Yi Xuan, a 19-year-old live streamer from China, died from a cerebral haemorrhage earlier today.
He was quite famous for binge eating unhealthy food and live streaming it for his followers. Now, I’m not saying that this caused his passing as that is still unclear, but who’s to say this ‘job’ wouldn’t have caused his death eventually?
Chasing fame through internet notoriety is a dubious method of getting famous. Not only mentally, but physically as well.
Fashionisers has a list of influencers who have died in the line of ‘duty’…and it’s quite packed. Don’t forget, that list is nowhere near complete. Tons of unknown influencers probably died too and nobody really noticed,
Despite that, being an influencer seems to be the goal for many. It doesn’t matter if what they’re doing as long as they get more views and followers.
That’s the reality of our world right now.
So whose fault is it? Is it an influencer’s fault for trying to break out or is it because people like us have grown to be unsympathetic enough that we’ll watch anything as long as it entertains us?
The answer? Both.
Social media has made it incredibly easy to see what other people are doing and it is unhealthy. How can you be content when you’re looking at stuff other people are showing off?
Only recently have we seen the Big Three of Social Media (Twitter, Facebook and Twitch) take a fiercer stance on content moderation.
Case in point; the nixing of Donald Trump’s social media accounts. Like it or not, Trump is an influencer. However, it took a long time for the companies to even act on that. In fact, the timing comes suspiciously close to Biden’s inauguration, which might mean forces (other than social responsibility) are at play.
But let’s back to the point…I was talking about influencers. There needs to be a line, and it needs to be drawn NOW before it worsens. Influencers will always have sway over the masses…but I think it’s really time we put an emphasis on what type of influencers should be promoted.
At this rate, if things don’t change, I think we’ll be embracing snuff porn soon as high entertainment in the next few years.