The Impact of Social Media Influencers

-Victoria Vitelli, High School Junior

It’s 9:00 AM on a Saturday. You wake up, roll over in your bed, the first thing you do is grab your phone. You open Instagram and start scrolling through the countless pictures of social media influencers from the night before. This is when you decide you will be skipping breakfast this morning.

A study done by the University of Haifa in 2011 showed 248 women from the ages of 12 to 19 had higher rates of eating disorders with more exposure to social media. Teens of the current generation tend to base whether they are comfortable with their bodies off of what they see on their Instagram feed.

“Going on to social media every day shows girls unrealistic beauty standards, and that does put a lot of pressure on us and brings out a lot of insecurities.” Victoria Mateo, junior at Hasbrouck Heights High School said.

When people hear the words “peer pressure” it is often associated with drugs, alcohol, etc. However, the amount of peer pressure teens endure just by looking at their cell phones has been extreme.

“Sense of self and individuality can ultimately be lost to influencer culture, especially since the majority of the influence is occurring outside of one’s conscious awareness. Groupthink is a particular concern. Groupthink refers to the tendency for thinking and decision-making to occur as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individuality. It is a type of conformity that can lead to irrational behavior and pressure to acquiesce. Concerning social media and influencer culture, Groupthink can essentially be a dangerous form of peer pressure.” Brielle A. Marino of the PsyD Department of Applied Psychology at NYU says.

Teens are bombarded every day with how they are “supposed” to act. What teens should be wearing, eating, drinking, & what music they should be listening to are just some of the topics thrown out by social media influencers.

Social Media Influencers are users on social media who have established a platform in their specific industry. They can persuade millions of people off of just a single Instagram post. There are many different types of influencers from beauty to fitness to comedy.

Many influencers could have a positive impact on their audience because they have a big platform to talk about topics like important issues going on in our country and informing their audience about topics they consider important. Many teens don’t watch the news or take the time to go out of their way to look up these things so this could be a positive aspect of influencers.

80% of students at Hasbrouck Heights High School follow at least one social media influencer. A big reason so many teens follow and listen to what these influencers have to say is that a lot of them are in the same age group as their audience. 31% of all social media influencers are between the ages of 18-24. High School students may look to these people like a big sister or brother type of influence. However, this may not always be a good thing. Teens seeing someone around their age creating unrealistic beauty standards could be pretty damaging to their self-confidence.

“I feel like it depends who the influencer is, like when it’s someone near my age I feel a little more insecure since people expect you to look like that.” Carleen Acosta, junior at Hasbrouck Heights High School says.

35% of Hasbrouck Heights High School students say they do not think that influencers portray their lives accurately on social media, but what do the influencers themselves think?

¨No, I believe things are all smoke and mirror for the most part. Everyone tries to portray a perfect picture but in reality, they live a facade. We all go through things. That is why I try to keep it real with my audience because if I’m not being real with them, I’m not being real with myself. Living a lie gets hard to keep up with. It’s okay not to be okay, people are great at putting up a mirage.¨ Val Mercado verified social media influencer with 1.1 million followers, says when asked if she thinks her fellow influencers are portraying fake life standards on their social media.

However, most of these influencers don't even have a clue what their impact truly is. Whether they are blinded by the millions of people knowing their name, the money, or just the atmosphere they are surrounded in living in LA, most don't realize what teenagers are going through, caused by social media.

Surveys have shown that 90% of teens ages 13-17 have used social media before. If you ask most of these teens, they will probably tell you that social media is the best thing to happen to them. Surprisingly, they aren’t entirely wrong, there are some good aspects.

“Social media can also provide a variety of resources and support. When you’re scrolling through your social media site, a lot of times there are posts about mental health and where you can get help, and where you can get resources. You can see that other people struggle and know that you’re not the only one.” says Wendy Sefcik, Chair of the New Jersey Youth Suicide Prevention Advisory Council and the Suicide Prevention Coordinator for Bergen County.

Many teens use socials as an escape. They can talk to people with whom they have things in common that they might not be able to speak to in person and so many other possibilities that they are unable to do in real life. But, when does not having enough social interaction get to be too dangerous?

A study at the University of Pennsylvania found that teens who frequently use Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram are more likely to have increased feelings of loneliness which can sometimes lead to depression and ultimately suicide.

“The current research demonstrates a fairly strong correlation between social media use and worsening mental health. Specifically, the relationship appears to be mediated by a “dose-response,” meaning the more one uses social media, the greater one mental distress. These effects seem to impact adolescent girls more so than any other youth group, and can include self-injurious behaviors and suicidality.” Marino said when asked if she felt there was an incline in mental health issues in teens caused by social media.

We've grown up with social media. None of us teens have ever really thought about the impact influencers have made on our lives. In both a negative and positive light, they've changed the way we live. We care so much about how we act and what we look like because of social media that it's hard to just be ourselves.