Influencers and Expectations: How Cancel Culture Affects our Mental Wellbeing
BY AVNI MISHRA '23
During the pandemic, most of Gen Z lives their lives through the internet. When we aren’t forcing ourselves to stay awake in Zoom classes, we’re scrolling through our favorite (or most addictive) social media feed. Whether it be TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, it’s not a stretch to say that this generation’s culture has largely been shaped by our online interactions. While social media fundamentally serves as a form of communication between friends and family, these sites have grown to host content creators with unique talents and skills. YouTube, with its two billion users, is the most recognizable video-sharing network, but over the years, other sites like TikTok and Instagram have excelled in giving creators a platform as well.
However, with the increasing popularity of social media, the relationship between fans and creators has become controversial. In the wake of “stan culture,” fans idolize influencers by creating dedicated fan pages and obsessing over every post, tweet, and like. But while social-media-based toxicity does stem partly from the fanbase, it also rises from the high expectations that are inevitably imposed on the creators.
It’s a concept as old as the creation of social media—people tend to only show the best parts of their lives, never daring to expose the not-so-beautiful. It seems silly to capitalize on the mundane when much of our lives can be, and are, filled with excitement. However, exclusively posting fun moments becomes harmful when people go out of their way to construct a digital fairytale. An appearance of perfection on social media easily causes people to question if they are doing something wrong in their own lives, simply because their days don’t seem nearly as glamorous or fulfilling. At the same time, many begin to expect these unrealistically flawless personas from influencers, leaving no room to talk genuinely about faults, disparities, and ignorance––“perfection” is the only acceptable standard.
By expecting perfection, we place influencers on a pedestal where they can do no wrong. The pressure to maintain their flawless digital appearance can be overwhelming and suffocating. Though society preaches that “mistakes are okay,” influencers cannot indulge in that philosophy. Up on the pedestal, every action is immediately scrutinized and criticized under the public eye. This threat makes content creators fear the moment their actions inadvertently lead to their downfall.
Indeed, when they do make mistakes, the consequences are often worse than many could imagine. This backlash comes in the form of cancel culture; “cancelling” is when a fan base collectively halts support for an influencer and their content after their actions have been deemed problematic. As The Insider describes, “It's completely legitimate that a[n] [influencer] should cause outrage if they say something homophobic, racist, transphobic, or hateful in any way, but sometimes a creator's fate is decided before they've even had a chance to respond to any allegations being spread about them.” Recently, cancel culture has become increasingly extreme. Influencers have no room to explain themselves, learn, or grow; as soon as they make a mistake they are marked as irredeemably problematic.
Similarly, people often dig up videos and posts from many years ago where creators make comments that would be inexcusable today. While it is incredibly important to call out prejudices, to assume that humans cannot learn and become better people is far more damaging. Further, the onslaught of hate and diminishing support is increased tenfold when fanbases have already constructed a perfect image of their idol. When their expectations are broken, users often feel betrayed and disappointed, even though they created these infeasible standards in the first place.
On the other hand, some fans use a forced image of perfection to excuse their favorite influencer from unforgivable actions. This behavior is most commonly linked to stan culture, in which stans, rather than feeling disappointed, deny any evidence of misconduct. They instead claim that everyone is “misunderstanding” the situation because their creator would never do such a thing, effectively downplaying an influencer’s inexcusable actions. This phenomenon reveals a larger, underlying issue of fans existing in echo chambers. In such communities, it’s easy to spread false narratives and normalize problematic behavior solely to maintain an influencer’s flawless image. This behavior in turn stunts productive discussion and leaves the creator’s actions unaddressed.
In general, expectations are silent but deadly killers. Regardless of whether high expectations foster cancel or stan culture, both only lead to the deterioration of mental health. Often, many do not anticipate the pressure and constant backlash associated with being an influencer. And with more ways to “go viral” today, creators are largely unprepared for the emotional and mental burdens. These kinds of expectations only serve to villainize those who have genuinely learned from their mistakes or allow prejudice to spread unchecked among impressionable fans. The presence of expectations rarely fosters a healthy online community. Thus, the sooner we understand the issues linked with maintaining unreasonable standards, the sooner we can overcome them and create safe and healthy online spaces for everyone.
However, with the increasing popularity of social media, the relationship between fans and creators has become controversial. In the wake of “stan culture,” fans idolize influencers by creating dedicated fan pages and obsessing over every post, tweet, and like. But while social-media-based toxicity does stem partly from the fanbase, it also rises from the high expectations that are inevitably imposed on the creators.
It’s a concept as old as the creation of social media—people tend to only show the best parts of their lives, never daring to expose the not-so-beautiful. It seems silly to capitalize on the mundane when much of our lives can be, and are, filled with excitement. However, exclusively posting fun moments becomes harmful when people go out of their way to construct a digital fairytale. An appearance of perfection on social media easily causes people to question if they are doing something wrong in their own lives, simply because their days don’t seem nearly as glamorous or fulfilling. At the same time, many begin to expect these unrealistically flawless personas from influencers, leaving no room to talk genuinely about faults, disparities, and ignorance––“perfection” is the only acceptable standard.
By expecting perfection, we place influencers on a pedestal where they can do no wrong. The pressure to maintain their flawless digital appearance can be overwhelming and suffocating. Though society preaches that “mistakes are okay,” influencers cannot indulge in that philosophy. Up on the pedestal, every action is immediately scrutinized and criticized under the public eye. This threat makes content creators fear the moment their actions inadvertently lead to their downfall.
Indeed, when they do make mistakes, the consequences are often worse than many could imagine. This backlash comes in the form of cancel culture; “cancelling” is when a fan base collectively halts support for an influencer and their content after their actions have been deemed problematic. As The Insider describes, “It's completely legitimate that a[n] [influencer] should cause outrage if they say something homophobic, racist, transphobic, or hateful in any way, but sometimes a creator's fate is decided before they've even had a chance to respond to any allegations being spread about them.” Recently, cancel culture has become increasingly extreme. Influencers have no room to explain themselves, learn, or grow; as soon as they make a mistake they are marked as irredeemably problematic.
Similarly, people often dig up videos and posts from many years ago where creators make comments that would be inexcusable today. While it is incredibly important to call out prejudices, to assume that humans cannot learn and become better people is far more damaging. Further, the onslaught of hate and diminishing support is increased tenfold when fanbases have already constructed a perfect image of their idol. When their expectations are broken, users often feel betrayed and disappointed, even though they created these infeasible standards in the first place.
On the other hand, some fans use a forced image of perfection to excuse their favorite influencer from unforgivable actions. This behavior is most commonly linked to stan culture, in which stans, rather than feeling disappointed, deny any evidence of misconduct. They instead claim that everyone is “misunderstanding” the situation because their creator would never do such a thing, effectively downplaying an influencer’s inexcusable actions. This phenomenon reveals a larger, underlying issue of fans existing in echo chambers. In such communities, it’s easy to spread false narratives and normalize problematic behavior solely to maintain an influencer’s flawless image. This behavior in turn stunts productive discussion and leaves the creator’s actions unaddressed.
In general, expectations are silent but deadly killers. Regardless of whether high expectations foster cancel or stan culture, both only lead to the deterioration of mental health. Often, many do not anticipate the pressure and constant backlash associated with being an influencer. And with more ways to “go viral” today, creators are largely unprepared for the emotional and mental burdens. These kinds of expectations only serve to villainize those who have genuinely learned from their mistakes or allow prejudice to spread unchecked among impressionable fans. The presence of expectations rarely fosters a healthy online community. Thus, the sooner we understand the issues linked with maintaining unreasonable standards, the sooner we can overcome them and create safe and healthy online spaces for everyone.
