Late night thoughts
We live in a world where kids and teenagers listen to what so called āinfluencersā online rather than their parents at home or theachers at school. Iām not saying thatās wrong, of course they can listen and learn from anyone.
However, looking at the content those influencers share online, Iām somewhat concerned. From what Iāve learned so far, the internet are filled with a very consumtive culture. Itās all about products to try on, places to hang out, overpriced food to eat, events to attend, so on and so forth. Those activites have one thing in common; spending money. The thing is, those kids, they donāt know any better and they donāt have income to begin with. Yet, they spend.
Being consumtive and materialistic is inevitable indeed. Even in my era before internet was not as big as now, and I wasnāt influenced by anyone besides my peer groups, I consume and spend A LOT of my parentsā money. I was terrible. I also admit I grow up to be a very consumtive young adult. Thus, I start thinking, what about these kids who are constantly fed with implicit advertisemints on a daily basis without them even knowing?
My point is, wouldnāt the world become a better place if those who claim themselves to be influencers think more critically? Like, can you guys be more considerate and think about the future instead of yourself for a little bit?
The title āinfluencers a.k.a selebgramā have more power than what it may seem. Having more followers on Instagram IS actually giving them MORE responsibilites. They should be more thoughtful on sharing opinions. They should be able to carefully curate their contents so it would be appropriate for public consumption. Yet, I still see many of them donāt have the right mindset. They are careless and donāt really realize the effect they can bring that might change our younger generationsā mindset. It seems like the only thing they care about is the number of their followers and likes on their posts in order to be recognized by Brands until they finally have enough worth to get endorsements. (I might sound very hateful, but oh well I honestly have had enough of them already) Of course itās good for them, and it looks like what they do donāt really bring any harm. Think again.
We used to, and perhaps still are, blaming Televisions for almost everything. Yes, media is a demon to some extend. It creates stereotypes, it sets nonsense standards, it shares biased news, it shapes biased opinions. It shows advertisements non-stop so people spend more on things they donāt need. For the sake of companyās profit. Seeing how Social Media has grown up till now, what's the difference between them and the traditional media? It's more or less the same. We can't keep blaming on the media we currently use for what happen to our younger generation but not doing anything about it. I'm saying this because I keep hearing "Anak jaman sekarang" line .That's also the line I always hear from my parents' generation. A never ending loop. The question is, who did they learn those behavior from? Us adults. It's getting worse now thanks to the internet, and to us who share contents they learn those from.
From my point of view, if only we have more influencers with the right mindset, and start improving their shallow contents to be more encouraging for kids and teenagers to do things that have more impact to the society instead of telling them to put tons of higlighters on their cheeks or going overseas with their lovers for vacation, then the world might be a better place to live.