Insta Influencer or Life Influencer? - A study

“Don’t use social media to impress people, use it to impact people “ - Dave Willis

Today, social media has a huge influence on young generation. It has travelled a long way from being just a small platform for the sharing information. The amazing achievements and developments in a few particular sectors like mass communication have led to an increasing use of social media. Whether we realize it or not but many of us have become addicts of this virtual world that we pretend to live in and sometimes giving more importance to it than our real life. It’s addictive because it gives us something so solid that the real-world lacks, it gives us immediacy, direction and a value as an individual.
We can’t let go the fact that it has helped many people to come together and form flourishing communities but a flood in one corner of the world is accompanied with a drought in the other. Grass can’t always be greener on the other side. We have also started accepting that social media also possesses the power to degrade the life of a person. Social media is training us to compare our lives with influencers and famous people out there, instead of appreciating our true selves. No wonder why everyone always seems depressed. And it is so hard to come out of this trauma to lead a healthy and happy life. Ultimately, it depends on us whether to take social media so seriously that it starts affecting our lives in a negative way. You might have plethora of questions, like who’s an influencer and why are they so much hyped by the young generation. Let’s answer a few of these questions.

Who is an influencer?
An influencer can be any famous personality who has such a huge fan following and audience that sharing a small opinion on the internet will lead to change in thoughts of a huge group of public thinkers.

How valuable are influencers?
Influencers mostly work for recreational purposes but the ones who have a good and kind heart will serve for the people to bring a positive change. The influencers have a wide reach that goes far and beyond. They have the ability to easily spread awareness across the world. Are influencers harmful for the society? As previously mentioned, that influencers mostly work for recreational and entertainment purposes but if these influencers possess a toxic trait of developing hatred against other influencers on the internet, this may lead to dispute among the followers of these influencers that will disrupt peace. Some such real life examples are given below

Examples:
1. Popular influencer Gaurav Taneja’s wife decided to book an entire metro coach for the celebration of her husband’ s birthday. This was done without giving prior notice to Gaurav Taneja himself. Due to their immense popularity, a large number of people arrived than expected, thousands of people rushed to the Noida station causing traffic jams. As a result, Gaurav was arrested by the police under section 144 on his own birthday. He even pleaded the police not to capture any pictures while he was under arrest but 5 minutes after he was arrested, his pictures went viral all over the internet. The issue was soon resolved but Gaurav’s birthday became a chaotic experience for a large number of people.

2. Sourav Joshi has grown immensely on the internet in the lockdown and the post lockdown eras. He started his journey with sketches and now he does daily Vlogs of YouTube. This massive popularity enabled a large population to reach out to him which has resulted in a devastating loss of privacy for Sourav and his family. The extent of the situation is quite unexpected. Sourav and his family had to decide on selling away their SUV in which they travelled frequently, the sole cause being the horde of his followers that used to gather around him whenever he used his vehicle. It has also affected the other family members as they also find it very difficult to go out of their house. Sourav’s small brothers feel very uncomfortable around random strangers they meet. Sourav is a very kind person and always prioritizes public safety yet his fans are driven so crazy by the fact that they are going to meet Sourav Joshi himself which has often caused minor local road blockages as seen in many of his vlogs.

What’s the pschycology behind all this?
In the initial stages, the idea of being an influencer or being famous sounds fabulous. Thousands of people that are willing to shape their opinion based on yours. It does sound exciting but in retrospect, it isn’ t like that at all. All of your opinions will not be accepted. You still have to earn the respect of your audience. Taking a bird’s eye view, you will realise that the amount of stress many influencers go through is way more than what normal people experience. Your privacy will be breached on a daily basis. You start feeling as if all you had done was worthless. It becomes difficult going out because you never know what kind of followers you might meet. Today’s world is developing fast but at the same time the negative aspects are being ignored in a lot of scenarios. Being an influencer requires a sense of responsibility, dedication and hardwork. Another major thing required is the goodwill necessary to maintain the public welfare. Even after all of this you still need to think of yourself and realize that being an influencer isn’t that exciting as it sounds like. We need to understand that just blaming these influencers when something goes wrong isn’t a good option either cause what has given them support is in the end us, the people, their followers. This utmost belief is what can either build a better place to live or wreak havoc aross the world. Sometimes thinking about the cause requires a slow and steady approach so that you can understand things in a better way.

Conclusion
Studies have shown that knowledge sharing can be marginally be improved with the effective usage of social media in any of the workplaces. Experts recommend a full usage of social media at workplaces to reduce boundaries and disparities and it also helps in developing and enhancing skills of the workers.
Social media is an inevitable part of our life now. Without it our life will come to a halt in someway or the other. It has both positive and negative effects and whatever we do, we will always have to bear some negative side effects at some or the other time. The influencers on the internet have changed our way of living and our lifestyle. We should be wise enough to know what’s good for us and what’s not. With endless ups and downs of this vast technology which is increasing day after day, it’s basic that we look at the negative ramifications that virtual world has got to offer us. Virtual world has helped enormously in advancing consciousness of social causes, promoting organisations and helping improving our relationships with our loved ones.
The abuse of social media is seen worldwide and it someway affects people of all age groups no matter how much we try to avoid it. We should try our level best not to let these affect our emotional well-being. Therefore, being little conscious about the usage of social media is imperative to ensure effective, productive and positive outcomes for you. Never let yourself feel isolated and alone due to your inactiveness on the online world. All that matters the most is your mental peace and your happiness.

Thank you