By Camie Jobe | Photographer
What was once a way to see the funny videos your friends were uploading, social media has become a landfill of advertisements disguised as entertainment. Whether you realize it or not, you are exposed to hundreds of ads each day that influence your decision-making. Influencers have gained too much control over the lives of their viewers, so stop letting yourself be so easily influenced and take off the rose-colored glasses while scrolling.
Social media and its influencers often cultivate unrealistic expectations. Highlight reels of people’s lives showing their latest international vacation or their seemingly perfect house often create a “Keeping Up with the Jones” mentality. Rather than stating their Airbnb was filled with bugs or their laundry room back home is filled to the brim with unwashed clothes, people choose to only show the highlights. Influencers do the same, and while many do not mean to intentionally mislead, their viewers soon believe they also need to strive for this level of perfectionism.
Besides the highlight reel that is often shown, influencers have helped cultivate a stronger desire to have the latest and greatest, even when you do not need it. While overconsumption has become quite a buzzword, it has become a massive issue in our society.
Simply thinking about water bottles, in the past five years, HydroFlask, YETI, Stanley and Owala have all risen to a cult-like status among our generation. Honorable mentions include HydroJugs in the fitness arena and S’wells. These bottles are designed to be durable, yet a new brand arrives on the scene every year. My Hydroflask is from peak “VSCO girl era” in 2019 and works just fine, yet I have an entire cabinet in my kitchen dedicated to reusable cups. This is just one of the many examples of overconsumption in our society. Unfortunately, influencers are helping the continued spread of new products.
Today, I hopped on Instagram for a quick experiment. I scrolled through 10 reels and six out of the 10 were outright advertisements or a brand collaboration with an influencer. So if you scrolled through 100 reels, you would see about 60 advertisements without thinking twice. Just because one person might have the greatest new sweater, this does not mean that it must be in your closet to fit in.
This is not to say that influencers on social media are out to get you, but it can be difficult to separate reality from what is being posted. Social media is like looking in a funhouse mirror; nothing you see is actually true. So, stop letting influencers have so much influence over your life.
