23 Jul 2021 Using social media amidst the Covid-19 pandemic: An antidote or toxin?

While many are picking up valuable tips on keeping safe and healthy on social media, the COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on pre-existing—and even exacerbated—a slew of mental health issues. In Singapore, counselling centres have seen a higher number of youths who are battling self-esteem issues due to higher social media usage. If we break it down by numbers, we also observe differences in how groups of youth perceive social media vis a vis their self-identity: Millennials treat their Instagram profile as a visual diary, but Gen Z youth craft their profiles such that it becomes an extension of their identity. It’s also natural to think that this is an opportune time for creators to thrive, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Burnout has plagued social media influencers, especially for those who rely on content creation as their main source of income. Their popularity, denoted by the number of likes and followers, is quite literally what makes or breaks them. Mr Josh Ostrovsky, an Instagram creator famously known as The Fat Jew, highlights the fierce competition: “Eventually there will be too many influencers [and] the market will be too saturated.” While it takes seconds to set up an account, a neatly spliced 15 second video may involve days of behind-the-scenes labour, with little to no assurance that the content that they publish will be well-received. Additionally, with the (toxic) ‘name and shame’ fan culture on the rise, influencers face the added pressure of putting out a consistently agreeable public image, lest they face backlash and hate.