If social media exuberance had a face, it would be Lilly Singh, Indo-Canadian comedian, influencer, and TV personality. The queen of YouTube rules the platform with an iron hand of humor, which she mercilessly unfurls to the toughest of her viewers; Few come out unscathed. Singh has a solution for all of life’s ills. He supposes that your boyfriend’s response to your ‘I love you’ is a dreaded ‘thank you’. She recommends ‘bro-zoning it’; censoring the word ‘love’ every time she tries to use it; or make an ‘I love you’ so commonplace, lucky recipients might include the local pizza delivery guy or the annoying guy who’s been trying to sell you a cheap data plan. Regulatory warning: Don’t watch the video while you’re in the office, or you might find yourself trying to stifle a laugh when your boss is talking about workflow charts and quarterly reports.
Many influencers would cut off their right hand and sell it on eBay to gain the kind of following that Singh has. As if his charm was too powerful to stay online, he spilled out of line. She became the first queer woman of color to host an NBC show. Late at night show, sat on the judging panel to canada’s got talentand became the New York Times best selling author of How to be a point guard (2017) and be a triangle (2022).
He defeated his detractors mercilessly, until he became his worst enemy. In 2018, he announced that he would be quitting social media after eight years for the sake of his mental health. “I am exhausted mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually,” she said. “The thing about YouTube is that, in all its glory, it’s like a machine and makes creators believe that we have to constantly generate content, even at the cost of our health, our lives and our mental happiness.”
The comedy teacher had run out of laughs.
What happened to Singh is not unusual. According to a 2020 report from inspire.me, a Norwegian influencer marketing platform, 47% of 350 global influencers surveyed admitted that his career choice had an impact on his mental health. Sixty-seven percent felt there was currently a negative stigma around the word ‘influencer’. Thirty-two percent admitted that his job had a negative impact on his body image. The average age of an influencer was found to be 28 years old and the majority (77 percent) were women.
“When I started over a decade ago, there were only bloggers and vloggers, so you worked with text or video,” says Scherezade Shroff, a popular YouTube content creator. “Now, everyone has to do everything: stories, reels, short videos, long videos…. You are always creating, which can definitely affect your mental health. Since I’m older than most content creators, I don’t have the need to constantly post everything on social media.”
Shroff started modeling at the age of 16 and now has more than three lakh followers on YouTube. Her cheery ‘Hey guys’ at the beginning of her videos can easily give you a much appreciated dopamine rush. “Before, I never used to take a break,” she says. “He made videos whether he was on a flight or not well. As the space grew, this became unsustainable. I realized that he was putting undue pressure on me. Now, I feel comfortable taking breaks. Over time, you discover your filters and find your balance.”
According to Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, Professor of Clinical Psychology at SHUT (Healthy Use of Technology) Clinic, NIMHANS, 5 to 6 percent of social media users are in the addictive zone, 40 60 percent are in trouble. area and the rest are moderate users with occasional overuse that they are able to control. “Although social media addiction is not yet a clinical disorder, more research is needed,” he says. If the average US consumer spends 3.43 hours a day on their mobile, the corresponding figure for a popular influencer would be 9.02 hours, says an eMarketer study.
People are generally under the impression that the life of an influencer is enviable, with giveaways, frequent travel, and ample opportunity to rub shoulders with celebrities. The reality, however, is much less supernatural. Being an influencer is a job like any other, says Malini Agarwal, also known as Miss Malini, a popular influencer, TV host, businesswoman, and author. “To become a successful influencer, you have to be passionate about what you do and find a gap, something that is unique to you (content, voice, or perspective) that no one else has,” she says. “And I think the tension and pressure to increase likes and followers can be overwhelming. All influencers face it, so it’s important to find that work-life balance. Sometimes it’s really hard to live in the real world and on the reels at the same time.”
So while traveling to London to attend Elite Magazine India’s Most Influential Awards, dazzle as a panelist at Colors Infinity’s The Inventor’s ChallengeWhether you’re shaking a leg at a boat party or looking dazzling in red at a princess ball, it’s easy to forget that your 100-watt smile needs a constant recharge. There is nothing as laborious as looking effortless.
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