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Chapter 1 - The Rise of the Influencer and Trolling
The Rise of the Influencer & Trolling
Chapter One seeks to examine The Rise of the Influencer, including how Instagram has changed over the years in both positive and negative ways, and how this has resulted in an increase in trolling and cyberbullying on influencers’ as well as other consumers’ posts. This section of the essay will also include how Influencers use their platforms in an optimistic way to promote positivity and motivation for their supporters and how this can help their followers, and in which ways it can affect all users’ mental health.
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Users on the Instagram app used to be less critical. The app was a platform formed to share the creativity and expression of oneself, just like Jaded London who aims their products at gen Z consumers and are not afraid to break fashion boundaries (Wightman-Stone, 2019). It was understood by The BBC that once celebrities started joining the photo based app, other users followed. This was because the content shared on the app was from the celebrity themselves, not news that could have been twisted in Newspapers and Magazines (Evans, 2018). As the number of users carried on increasing, the amount of room for trolls and negativity on the app also increased.
(Chen, 2018).
Unfortunately, this could create feelings of jealousy causing people to behave differently to how they normally would within society. They can act like keyboard warriors and take control, causing a detrimental effect on the mental health of the individual on the receiving end of the trolling/negativity. It is also extremely apparent that trolling and cyberbullying occurs among individuals that are not in the public eye. Back in 2016, in a survey based on teenage individuals, 69% of participants reported that they had been trolled/bullied on Instagram (Department, 2016). In The Atlantic, Lorenz suggests that gen Z’s networks occur almost completely on Instagram, in comparison to other social media platforms (Lorenz, 2018) suggesting Instagram is the most used platform among gen Z consumers, enabling them to find new fashion trends to express themselves through. Furthermore, negative comments that young individuals endure online could result in mental health illnesses such as anxiety and depression, which can often lead to heart-breaking outcomes such as suicide. There are many disastrous situations regarding suicide within the fashion industry, such as Kate Spade who tragically took her own life due to anxiety and depression back in 2018, (Press, 2018) which has allowed the conversation about suicide to become more apparent within the fashion industry.
It is known that influencers feel a lot of pressure to be ‘perfect’ on Instagram which can negatively affect mental health. ‘Cancel culture’ (when an influencer gets ‘cancelled’ due to controversial actions) is a term many social media stars fear which adds to the stress of being ‘perfect’ online. It is also common that some influencers are not treated well by brands they are working with (Mulcahy, 2019). Furthermore, back in 2019, Instagram trialled removing the ‘likes’ feature on the app to see how it would impact consumers and if it would put influencers and other users at ease while posting on the platform. This was mainly due to individuals becoming obsessive with the number of likes in today’s society. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri affirmed eliminating the ‘likes’ feature was “about creating a less pressurised environment where people feel comfortable expressing themselves” (Meisenzahl, 2019). The obsessiveness with the ‘likes’ feature on the app takes over the lives of influencers across the globe, which could be extremely stressful and therefore detrimental to their mental health, portraying how damaging the likes feature can be to gen Z consumers.
However, Petter argues back in 2019 Instagram itself introduced some features within the app to protect its users. For example, the company announced a new anti-bullying element where it asks the user to think again before posting a comment that the app considers to be unpleasant This feature uses Artificial Intelligence to understand the type of comment being composed. Furthermore, the user is able to select the ‘Learn more’ option and if they choose to select this, they are then notified that their type of comment has been reported in the past by other users. The goal of this new feature is to prevent abusive behaviour on the platform to keep users safe (Petter, 2019). In addition, back in 2019 HOLYOKE students of all diversities from over seventeen different schools, formed a Unify Anti-Bullying Fashion Show. Within this fashion show, they created a beautiful collection including several colours, patterns and styles as well as promotional T-Shirts to raise awareness which they then promoted on Instagram (Desk, 2019). This revolutionary fashion show sets a positive example on Instagram for gen Z consumers to stand up against bullying.
However, in an online survey carried out by the researcher surrounding influencers and trolling, it was found that 27.27% said they had been trolled online and 81.82% of participants stated they had received negative comments online. In addition 54.55% of participants specified that these comments affected their mental health, for reasons such as knocking self-confidence as well as believing the harmful comments they are receiving. (See Appendix B). This is conveying the large percentage of individuals who are trolled on Instagram and how harmful it can be to their mental health. Alternatively, there are individuals around the world putting consequences in place for these negative actions. For example, fines and laws are being put into place for cyberbullying and trolling in Australia, as of December 2020, the same year the balloon sleeve trend entered the fashion industry (Pithers, 2020). Trolling can be extremely harmful to individuals on the receiving end, which resulted in these laws coming into place over in Australia. It is said by The Guardian that fines of up to $555,000 could be a sanction for the act of severely abusive, harmful or bullying content, under the federal government’s online safety legislation. In this circumstance, the troll had 24 hours to remove inappropriate content or they would be at risk of fines as well as being blocked (Davey, 2020). The fact that there are an increasing amount of sanctions being put into place regarding trolling and cyberbullying, is a huge win for mental health, as this will decrease the amount of negative comments that float around Instagram and cause less individuals and influencers to feel low.
In a 1:1 interview with Instagram influencer Elesha Arnfield, it was found that she uses her platform to talk about mental health, general well-being and spirituality; because she believes it adds value to people’s lives, which has resulted in her now feeling like a role model to her followers. In regards to trolling, Elesha has received many hurtful comments and messages but chooses to ignore it and remember that it is a reflection of the people writing them and not a reflection of her. In addition, Elesha speaks highly of the app stating that it has been an amazing place for self-development for her. (See Appendix C). The fact that she uses her platform to spread positivity, portrays how there are beneficial elements to Instagram when it comes to mental health.
As gen Z consumers are young they can be easily manipulated. With the lives that influencers live online, it is hard to remember that what they choose to portray online, is not the full truth. This can be damaging to gen Z consumer’s mental health because they are being fed a lie of what a ‘perfect’ life and person looks like. For example, back in 2019, Oh Polly launched a secondary Instagram page which they called ‘Oh Polly Inclusive’. (Onibada, 2019). This page (which has now been deactivated) was designated to plus-sized and diverse models, influencers and customers, portraying segregation. This was not a positive message to be sending out as a brand, to consumers as it could be extremely detrimental to users. In addition, viewing the negativity and trolls online every day, can easily influence individuals to act like this, influencing gen Z consumers to treat people with disrespect, creating a vicious cycle of trolling and cyberbullying.
Overall, it is clear to see that trolling is an immense and common issue among influencers and users, which can be extremely damaging for gen Z consumers to see and/ or experience. However, it is also evident that Instagram is putting measures in place to reduce the amount and levels of trolling, cyberbullying and negativity online in order to protect its consumers.
