Outdated and Overrated: Is the Age of the Influencer Dead?

By Samiyah Lateef

Photo by Sasha Dickson

It’s 2013, and you want to be her: Bethany Mota. Night routines have a ten step minimum, pumpkin scented candles have to be lit, and DIY’s are the only way. It’s 2016, and you want to be her: Kylie Jenner. The lips are ultra-matte, glam eyeshadows happen everyday, and black chokers are your new staple. It’s 2018, and you want to be her: Emma Chamberlain. Coffee is an addiction, and thrifting is now cool. Now it’s 2022 and all the influencers you deemed as relatable…well, they aren’t.

The disconnect between influencers and their viewers has been a long time coming. The glamorous lifestyle change has led once attached audiences to feel left behind, forgotten, and used. The immediate shift away from those whose job occupation reads influencers has been quick, spiteful, and truth be told, unsurprising. 

Youtube birthed this idea of an influencer: A normal individual whose job was to do nothing but create content. In theory this sounds brilliant. Your favorite creator giving you nothing but content: win win! In reality, the content got stale, your favorite creator burnt out, and you, the viewer, is left feeling bored and used. In today's TikTok driven world, the shift to creators with lives outside their screens has been a rapid one. Audiences are dying to see people that look like them, live like them, and work like they do. We want outfits repeated, genuine content, and real personalities. Sadly, this will never come to fruition as the reality of the “it girl” influencer will forever change to one wrapped in fame and fortune.

Will influencers continue to quit their jobs once they gain enough notoriety? Yes. Will they slowly lose their audiences as they gain fame? Probably. Will followers flock to the next relatable girl next door until it happens again to her? Most definitely.

The age of striving to quit your job and “become an influencer” is dying. And I can’t say I’ll be crying at her funeral.