Influencer Culture: Aesthetic appearances, dreamlike lives... "The foundations of a social transformation and degeneration are being laid"

Aslı AĞIRDİL - 12punto.com.tr

Developing technology and the widespread use of social media bring with them new definitions and professions. Influencer marketing, which is accepted as one of these professions, has high popularity. These individuals, who have a follower count above the average, can make recommendations on certain topics in their posts. These recommendations are usually shaped by collaboration agreements aimed at highlighting specific brands. Thanks to the advantages of reaching very large audiences, they can earn significant amounts of money.

The tendency and desire to become an influencer, especially among young individuals, has increased even more recently. According to the latest data from the US-based global research company Morning Consult, 57 percent of Gen Z dream of becoming an influencer. Moreover, most young people are ready to leave their current careers for influencer marketing, which they accept as a respectable profession, if they have the chance to earn the same money. Furthermore, three out of every 10 young people are even willing to pay money to become an influencer. Speaking to 12Punto, Psychiatrist Specialist Dr. Ayşegül Sütçü drew attention to the factors behind the rise of social media influencers.

REACHING MORE PEOPLE FOR LESS: INFLUENCER CULTURE

Psychiatrist Specialist Dr. Ayşegül Sütçü emphasized that some individuals have an excessive need for approval and being liked. Stating that there is an increase in influencer culture because companies can reach more people for less money through influencers, Sütçü said:

"One of the most fundamental spiritual needs of a human being is to exist and to find meaning in their existence. For this, people want to be recognized, noticed, differentiated from others, and approved as they are. While these needs were met in the past by our real social circles—our family, friends, relatives, or those who knew us from afar—with the emergence of social media, it has become important to be recognized and approved by people we have never met and only know from virtual environments. With the profiles they define on social media, people have found the opportunity to appear before people they do not know at all. Social media platforms also chose to base themselves on this most fundamental human need for being liked and approved, adding 'like' and 'follow' buttons to posts. I said it is everyone's basic need, but for various reasons, some people's need for approval and being liked can be much higher. Otherwise, they may have difficulty defining themselves and making sense of their lives."

"There is also the financial aspect of this phenomenon, of course. Companies that previously had to pay huge amounts of money for tiny advertisements in media outlets like TV and newspapers have turned the influencer phenomenon into a way of making money by easily shifting their advertising channels to social media influencers, as they can reach more people than the audience/readership they would reach through those media outlets for much less money. As far as I can see, these factors are some of the reasons for the rise of influencer culture."

NEW ROLE MODELS: INFLUENCERS

Pointing out that the unrealistic aesthetic appearances and luxury-life-themed content of social media influencers are impressive to young people, Sütçü explained the drawbacks of this as follows:

"Adolescence is one of the most important periods in a person's identity development. In childhood, the main role models are the mother, father, older brother, older sister, or people close to the family. With adolescence, as the individual comes into more contact with the outside world, role models begin to be found outside the family. Adolescents structure their identities by taking their closest friends, peers, teachers, and the strangers they admire as role models. These strangers can often be famous actors, musicians, or even TV series characters that do not exist in reality. You remember, it is a very typical example; there was a time when the number of adolescents who took heroes in popular mafia series as role models, wore serious clothes like the mafia, and aspired to be 'tough guys' increased significantly."

"Today, social media influencers are among the people most easily taken as role models by young people. With their makeup and the aesthetic surgeries they have undergone, they stand before young people who are in the stage of getting to know themselves mentally and physically as a brand new and difficult-to-reach goal. Their aesthetic appearances, which are far from reality, and their unimaginable wealth and dreamlike lives can negatively affect the self-ideals and self-esteem of adolescents. This situation can create unrealistic expectations in young people. On the other hand, if these influencers are not producing a productive, creative product, they are showcasing a life that does not produce, only consumes, and where appearance is at the forefront rather than content. I think the foundations of a social transformation and perhaps even degeneration are being laid in this way."

VIRTUAL HEROES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

"We learn to obey the rules of society from a very young age, even starting from infancy, by first obeying the rules and boundaries set by our parents. The development of the structures that make up our psyche—which we call the id, ego, and superego—also begins with this period. When a baby is born, it only seeks satisfaction with the survival instinct—our common instinct with animals—that serves the instinct to live. This means the pursuit of pleasure as much as the satisfaction of physiological hunger. This search for satisfaction is the function of the part of our mental apparatus we call the id. As the baby learns over time that the breast will not come every time it cries and that it must delay its hunger, it also learns that the desire for pleasure must be delayed, that not everything it wants can be fulfilled immediately, for example, that one cannot touch someone else's property, and other similar social rules. In this way, the repressive and rule-setting part of our mental apparatus, which we call the superego, is formed. The superego is the source of morality, conscience, embarrassment, shame, and guilt, and it aims to reach ideals. For the development of the superego, the presence of the father or mother first, and then the presence of society, that is, an 'other,' is important. Just like the disappearance of the feeling of shame when no one else is watching, individuals do not need the repression of the superego as much when they do not see anyone in front of them. If no one is going to see, there is no shame, no embarrassment."

"In people who present themselves on social media, even though these people know the existence of their followers, because there is no concrete person in front of them, and even because the followers and the person's identity on social media are virtual, not real, the superego can easily be deactivated. Social media makes the individual prone to the audacity of loneliness, like a curtain standing between society and the individual. You may have noticed that on social media, people easily say things to others, even insults, that they would never say if they were face-to-face in real life. They can be overly assertive about the correctness of their own ideas. Obscenity may also be becoming widespread as a result of the person ignoring shame, moral rules, and social values as if they were behind a curtain. People are free to dress as they wish and do what they want with their bodies, and they should be. What is important here, in my opinion, is that the person can choose to do things they would not choose to do in real life while behind a virtual identity, and that it is impossible to predict the boundaries of this."

THE IDEAL OF 'EASY MONEY'

Pointing out that people earning income below the hunger threshold despite their hard work also brings up the 'easy money' option, Sütçü stated that this situation will lead to new professions in the future. Sütçü said:

"Many professions that we could not even imagine could exist in the past are now widely practiced. In the future, new professions that we cannot think of right now will emerge, and some of these will be professions related to the digital world. As long as social media influencing—I don't even know if we should call it 'influencer' in Turkish—is a way to earn easy money, it is quite natural for it to start being seen as a profession in society. I don't know if this will be a profession that is taught in the future or if it will disappear, but it is very clear that in a society where money earned by the sweat of one's brow is not enough to live like a human being, and where a large part of the public earns an income below the poverty or even hunger threshold, 'easy money' will always exist as an option, no matter the method of earning it. The future ideals of young people cannot be independent of this reality. Isn't it quite understandable for a young person who sees that they cannot reach the life they aspire to by studying and working to hope for something from being an influencer and finding something that will attract attention to 'gain followers' on social media?"

News Source: Aslı Ağırdil