Bad Influencers / Bad Role models?

heyjude88

Hi there,

Just wondering what are peoples thoughts on bloggers and influencers having a negative effect on social media?

I have young nieces who follow what influencers say even if it's total rubbish. My brother and his wife are not social media savy, so i've had to bring so much to their attention.

Some snaps/insta stories are so negative and absurd. Prime example, last night one of the leading fitness girls posted a picture of her dinner which was mainly salad and turkey burgers with the caption, "Am I skinny yet?". Then spoke about how much weight she had put on over her holidays. This fitness person is so skinny and fit it's such a bad message to be sending out to anyone.

Maybe i'm just old and sensitive

Ray37

I think constant snaps of lifting your top to show your 'progress' (weight loss and ab definition) is terrible. Like once a month maybe, not every week. This kind of behavior is obsessive, and should've be shared online. If you ever scroll through some Instagrams of well known bloggers, it's clear who few people are aware of the insane amount of photoshop being used. I'm certainly not against using a good angle and filters, but stretching your body so you look inhuman is so wrong, and sends out a terrible message to followers. The scary part is seeing how many of their fans don't see this, and leave gushing 'you're an inspiration' comments. 

There's also a very well know blogger who has snapped herself drinking alcohol at lunch, and then driving home afterwards. This absolutely sickened me, as she then accepted a paid sponsorship by RSA to discuss road safety.

Lindy97

Jesus!

I'd agree on the fitness stuff, I'm all for a healthy body positive attitude but that's not what I'm seeing a lot of the time. Just skinny = good. Which isnt the case, skinny doesn't equal healthy.

It's also sad when I see stuff like #relationshipgoals. You don't know them, you see what they want you to see which is photos and snaps which they have edited to give the best representation of their brand. No couple, even the strongest one, is perfect.

I also hated, as a new mum, seeing bloggers saying how easy having a baby was and how they felt they were "born to be a mum" and telling followers to have a baby as it was so easy, when she knew nothing about their circumstances. a) i dont believe it was that easy and she said months later on that Truzees one about a few struggles she'd had but she had never mentioned these on her own snaps at the time and b) even if that was her experience, they have to be aware what they say can affect people. Imagine being a mum struggling with a baby with reflux or colic, or even just struggling with the HUGE change to your life, and sitting there reading how someone who had a really, really good baby and a lot of help, not to mention the tonnes of free stuff the rest of us have to pay for on maternity was "born to be a mum", your mind is all over the place, you're doubting every thing you do and hormones are messing with you and you have to read that **** which starts making you think, well was I not as I'm not finding it so easy??.....it made me so mad.

Basically, this presenting an instagram perfect ideal, which is usually bull. That's my bug bear and I think it does so much damage.

scarbouro

Ray37 wrote: »

There's also a very well know blogger who has snapped herself drinking alcohol at lunch, and then driving home afterwards. This absolutely sickened me, as she then accepted a paid sponsorship by RSA to discuss road safety.

Speaking on the topic of alcohol. Not sure if it's the same blogger you're talking about but I can't get over how much one of the top bloggers drinks. I've no problem with anyone enjoying a drink, I do myself but every snap this blogger has a glass of wine in her hand nearly every day of the week weather it be lunch, dinner or at home. It's like she can't get through a day without drinking. She has a very young following and I don't think making alcohol look so cool in every snap or post is sending out a good message. If she's having a drink at the time, i personally think she should put it down while taking the pic for Instagram. She doesnt need a wine glass in hand to make the shot a good one.

Lindy97

It says a lot that I think I know exactly who you are talking about

LirW

There is a very well known australian goth "model" and "Make up artist" that has a horrible attitude, worshipping serial killers (has a tattooed sleeve of a few of their faces), drinking and constantly complaining of how hard she has it and being permanently broke. She asked her followers for money on a few occasions.

Another one is also a quite famous instagrammer that promotes a daddy complex. That's absolutely disgusting.

GingerLily

LirW wrote: »

Another one is also a quite famous instagrammer that promotes a daddy complex. That's absolutely disgusting.

How do you promote a Daddy complex? Genuinely curious

LirW

By stating it should be tried having sex with older men or getting actively into daddy roleplay in a very pushing manner that also tries to normalize incestuous relationships. I generally don't care about any kind of fetish but on a portal like Instagram this is a bit ott in my opinion. Afaik it got better with her though since she got called out for it a few times.

groovyg

There is one fitness blogger I used to follow and she is into weight lifting and training for competitions, constantly posting progress pics and of her meals. Leading up to a competition its all lean protein with salads and watching the calories, then she goes on holidays and undoes all the work. Ok she's on holidays and is allowed to relax but I don't understand why they over do so much with food and alcohol that they have a mountain to climb when theycome back to reality. I really think some of them have binge eating issues.

eviltimeban

Now I want to know who all these people are!

zoobizoo

The whole purpose is to keep posting content...

So if you gain weight you can talk about it.... and then you can talk about losing it again.

They have to remain in the public eye so they need to have something to talk about constantly.



I am not on Snapchat but I have listened to some of the women on there. It's sad that girls are listening to the nonsense they go on about - mainly clothes, diet, make up...

For example Rosanna Davison going on about health and wellness and yet she's covered in make up, has had plastic surgery and lives an unrealistic lifestyle... she's never without her make up.

It's vacuous and obsessed with looking perfect all the time, that is not healthy.


They are on social media to make money.... it's their job. Not sure why parents allow their kids to listen to such nonsense.

groovyg

Ray37 wrote: »

There's also a very well know blogger who has snapped herself drinking alcohol at lunch, and then driving home afterwards. This absolutely sickened me, as she then accepted a paid sponsorship by RSA to discuss road safety.

The RSA is just another publicly funded organisation going through the motions, does anybody actually pay attention to their adverts?
That one about drink driving where the parents of Ciaran Treacy feature is pretty powerful but then you have some politicians and the Vintners federation who are against a blanket ban on drink driving ...so waste of time really.

They've now signed up a load of mommy influencers for a campaign on driver distraction and driving with kids. If the RSA pay them, they'll advertise it.

LirW

Also a lot of young female instagrammers that have fairly questionable content (depression, apathy, mental health issues sometimes paired with taking heavy drugs for it for the clicks and plastic surgery addiction) have wealthy backgrounds, are college dropouts and don't work. Plenty of these made themselves a name on tumblr first.

allym

There is one fitness influencer who I actually really liked but realised the more she was going on that her relationship with food was desperately unhealthy.

I actually had to unfollow her because I just felt that her basically promoting binge eating and lack of self control when it came to food was really unhealthy. She basically destroyed some food instead of just saying "no I'm not gonna have any of that today". I would worry about young girls watching these videos and going "ok I can't ever have a bit of chocolate because I'll end up eating six bars so I'll just never touch it again".

meeeeh

There were always bad role models on internet. You can't ban them all and you can't regulate them all. It's up to parents to parent and not to society to limit the free speech (hate speech and similar excluded). It would make me very happy if vaccine scaremongering or dieting nonsense would disappear of Internet but it's more beneficial to single them out as nonsense than shut up the debate. Also "think of the children" must be most overused excuse ever. There are plenty of older people who are just as stupid. In the same way blogger can't be responsible for someone having a baby because she said it's easy. Is today everything someone elses fault and is there no space for personal responsibility. (BTW having my second child was easy, some kids are like that).

Ray37

@Lindy if I could like your comment a million times re the 'born to be a mum' stuff etc I would! You are so bang on there.
Another thing I am seeing more and more of that I really don't like, is trotting out the old 'anxiety' line. One very big blogger was being investigated by the ASAI, and saw that she was being widely discussed on social media. Rather than speaking out about how she had made a mistake and would try to follow guidelines and rules, she came onto Snapchat crying that the people discussing her were 'damaging her mental health'. I absolutely HATE this. I've seen a lot of people lately use mental health as a way to try to silence people calling out their shadiness, and it makes me sick. I'd love to see a change in how mental health is being shown on social media by some people, you can't hide behind it and use it to silence people when you've done something wrong. This made me feel that my struggles with mental health are being invalidated, and it's being used as an excuse for doing your job poorly. I saw lots of her followers raging that because she has anxiety and a baby, that being investigated was 'the last thing she needs'. Are you joking me?? If you can't do your job right, maybe you shouldn't do it. Nobody was to blame but her, but she tried to shut up people by turning on the tears, and making those who discussed it out to be the baddies. You need to be accountable for what you promote, and how you do it, and do not DARE use your mental illness for sympathy when you are caught out.

retro:electro

The mindless consumerism is getting so out of hand. One blogger wears items once, and then sells them on Depop. I'm also following another blogger who, for the most part I like, but she's going on a holiday with another blogger to The Seychelles today and she uploaded a YouTube video of her "holiday clothing haul", and she must have spent over €500 on holiday clothes. :eek:
Holiday clothes like. Bits you'll wear a few times a year. And it's not as if she hasn't already got nice bits as she was on holiday only recently.

God forbid you'd have to snap yourself in the same outfit twice- and that's what it all comes down to, imo- social media portrayal. Having to have a different outfit in every photo, and I get that they need to do this to certain extent as it's their job, but it's getting crazy. There just seems to be no thought as to what this is doing, not only the planet- but psychologically to their audience and to themselves as well.

Lindy97

meeeeh wrote: »

There were always bad role models on internet. You can't ban them all and you can't regulate them all. It's up to parents to parent and not to society to limit the free speech (hate speech and similar excluded). It would make me very happy if vaccine scaremongering or dieting nonsense would disappear of Internet but it's more beneficial to single them out as nonsense than shut up the debate. Also "think of the children" must be most overused excuse ever. There are plenty of older people who are just as stupid. In the same way blogger can't be responsible for someone having a baby because she said it's easy. Is today everything someone elses fault and is there no space for personal responsibility. (BTW having my second child was easy, some kids are like that).

I get your point about personal responsibility and how people think nothing is their fault, such as people moaning they ran up huge data bills then crying about the network provider etc.

I also agree that it's not up to anyone else to regulate or educate what your kids see, and also that a lot of the followers I see are older women, but like any area of society there are vulnerable people, you and I might be able to look at it for what it is but others don't or can't for whatever reason, again that's not the fault of the blogger and I wasn't really saying that it's their fault as such just that they should be more aware of their content and what they were saying as *some* responsibility does lie there, like in any job.

The having a baby thing, well someone messaged saying her baby made them broody and should they have a baby and she said "honestly, do it, its so easy"... so yeah she's not responsible if some eejit goes out and has a baby on the back of that but, like you said, personal responsibility is key, both for the blogger and the viewer. *Her* experience was easy, but she never said that, it was just this is brilliant, do it. Babies are luck of the draw really for the most part and a lot depends on your circumstances, support etc but again, none of that, just yeah it's easy, do it with no context.

mel123

Why is no one mentioning names? Ive read the forum rules and dont believe its not allowed, or am I wrong?

retro:electro

mel123 wrote: »

Why is no one mentioning names? Ive read the forum rules and dont believe its not allowed, or am I wrong?

I think it's a complex we have brought over from the other forum! :pac:
I was talking about Louise Cooney.

saggycaggy

anna080 wrote: »

I think it's a complex we have brought over from the other forum! :pac:
I was talking about Louise Cooney.

I'm not on snapchat anymore but had to unfollow her on Instagram and I hate to say but it was mostly because of jealousy. I just couldn't get over her lifestyle and trips away-once a month it seems like another hot sunny destination and having a ball. is this real life???

Lindy97

The born to be a mum one is FacesByGrace as is the anxiety one that Ray37 has mentioned, I believe.
You tend to see her name a lot around these parts:D

retro:electro

saggycaggy wrote: »

I'm not on snapchat anymore but had to unfollow her on Instagram and I hate to say but it was mostly because of jealousy. I just couldn't get over her lifestyle and trips away-once a month it seems like another hot sunny destination and having a ball. is this real life???

I know ya, and the fab house in central Dublin with a cute puppy (who I'm feeling more sorry for by the day). It's not real life.

Sure while I'm at it, on the topic of bad role models and irresponsibility- I just hate when these bloggers get themselves cute little Instagram friendly dogs, but are never actually around to look after them. Louise left her job about a month ago and has been jetting all over the world since, and her poor little pup who she only recently got is at home with her roommates. She should have thought about how much she'd be gone when she was considering buying him, but I'm sure the odd cute Instagram picture makes her feel like a good owner when she, for the most part, is not.

Lindy97

I should also say, maybe the title shouldn't be "bad influencers/bad role models", as others have said, really they shouldn't be classes as role models, maybe "questionable content/issues" or something like that?

will56

saggycaggy wrote: »

I'm not on snapchat anymore but had to unfollow her on Instagram and I hate to say but it was mostly because of jealousy. I just couldn't get over her lifestyle and trips away-once a month it seems like another hot sunny destination and having a ball. is this real life???

I think more of them should be honest about their lifestyles with followers.
One fitness blogger has recently admitted to no longer training clients in person so just does online training now.
Same person states that she left her own job a couple years ago to PT and now has a business so succesful that she can holiday fairly regular, pay for extra coaching etc in the run up to a comp and has her nice flat in town.

Either seriously lucky/successful or has another income stream that's not discussed.

ZeroThreat

Some youtubers also have a lot to answer for.

Linus of Linustechtips for the encouragement of nerds spending too much cash on very high end computer equipment.

And the caffeine-overdosing Lindybeige with an unnatural obsession for tanks is a somewhat dodgy character also.

baby and crumble

The thing is though, why is it their responsibility to police their actions? Like I do understand the need for positive role models in everyone's life, but if they've gotten a following doing a certain thing (eg fitness blogs or whatever) then why should they have to change their content when they become successful?

And I know lots of folks will say that kids are easily influenced, and that's a fair point. But kids aren't stupid either. I never once in my life thought that rock stars doing drugs was something I aspired to but I still liked their music. Why is this different?

StripedBoxers

Ray37 wrote: »

There's also a very well know blogger who has snapped herself drinking alcohol at lunch, and then driving home afterwards. This absolutely sickened me, as she then accepted a paid sponsorship by RSA to discuss road safety.

scarbouro wrote: »

Speaking on the topic of alcohol. Not sure if it's the same blogger you're talking about but I can't get over how much one of the top bloggers drinks. I've no problem with anyone enjoying a drink, I do myself but every snap this blogger has a glass of wine in her hand nearly every day of the week weather it be lunch, dinner or at home. It's like she can't get through a day without drinking. She has a very young following and I don't think making alcohol look so cool in every snap or post is sending out a good message. If she's having a drink at the time, i personally think she should put it down while taking the pic for Instagram. She doesnt need a wine glass in hand to make the shot a good one.

Who are these bloggers? Could you PM me if you don't want to post here?

meeeeh

baby and crumble wrote: »

The thing is though, why is it their responsibility to police their actions? Like I do understand the need for positive role models in everyone's life, but if they've gotten a following doing a certain thing (eg fitness blogs or whatever) then why should they have to change their content when they become successful?

And I know lots of folks will say that kids are easily influenced, and that's a fair point. But kids aren't stupid either. I never once in my life thought that rock stars doing drugs was something I aspired to but I still liked their music. Why is this different?

This is much better made point about what I was trying to say. Maybe I am old but it seems that today people want everything to be airbrushed (metaphorically speaking). Nobody can be insulted or voice an unpopular opinion, even flaunt their wealth/lifestyle because they will hurt someone. Unfortunately lack of policing means popular culture is full if dross but it's all worth it if that enables alternative views to be heard.

I have no time for people (bloggers) using anxiety as an excuse to avoid scrutiny of their actions. But at the same time the followers should not expect bloggers to self police so that no one is affected in any kind of negative way. There is always someone who is bad influence and I absolutely agree with one of previous posts about over the top consumerism. But that can't be done by protecting kids from everything. It's much better to encourage critical thinking and let them make up their mind.

BTW regarding drinking. When I was a teen every self respecting rock band featured at least one bottle of JD and most of the band members smoking on their promo material. I would be on a third liver by now if this kind of stuff was so influential.

baby and crumble

It's kind of like online porn. No-one is saying it's not a huge problem, but unless parents are willing to talk with their kids/ teenagers about how porn is NOT realistic and how images etc can be altered, then I really don't think they can blame the makers for their kids thinking sex is actually like how it is in porn.

Same thing applies here.

heyjude88

i'm sure its very different being a rock star and taking drugs. most people aren't musical enough to make it in a band and therefore can't afford class A drugs.

Fitness infulencers lifts up her top and says she so fat,  and then post pictures of her dinner asking is she skinny yet, but is also eating nutella and pringles. this to me is a bad infulence. Kids and adults (women in particular), can see this and obsess over their food and image. It's way easier to cut calories and stop eating etc, then it is to be in a successful rock band and doing drugs every night. Also, being in a band is on a larger platform, a young girl sitting in her room watching these snaps on snapchat is all done behind closed doors, and may become a secret obsession. These influencers  are mostly all local Irish girls who play up the "I'm just like you" image. Of course their followers will think they can be like them.

I didn't name the influencer, so i'm not lashing out. I started the thread to see what other peoples opinions are. I work with mainly women in my job, and so many of the young girls have gotten lip injections and look so silly. Silly enough that management have had to step in as we are customer front line staff.  It's scary.