My Response to the 18-year-old from Australia Leaving Social Media

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of TapInfluence . The opinions and text are all mine.

 

Leave.

Don’t talk about it, just do it.

Have you heard about the 18-year-old from Australia who made tons of money on Instagram and social media this year by sharing photoshopped images of herself in posts with no disclosure? Well, apparently she is leaving social media. She has deleted some of her accounts and gone a huge rant about how unethical everyone on social media is because they portray themselves as something they aren’t. She made a four and a half minute video where she ranted about the evils of social media like some sort of crazy person on crack a passionate person.

She said she isn’t in it for the views and that it shouldn’t matter if people “like” your stuff.

Not in it for the views? Then why are you online at all? Who are you creating these videos for?

Is she a scam?

No. She’s annoying brilliant. She just got herself twice as much attention as she had before. She shut down old platforms, rebranded, and started new platforms and has the media promoting it all, except well, they don’t even realize it. If you didn’t notice I’m being paid to write this post. I’m being paid to give my opinion and by doing that I’m growing her brand for her!

Granted, she is drinking her own kool-aid, but she is going to make a lot of money. I noticed on her new site she has a DONATE page!

She goes on and on about how social media is based on opinions of others and that validation is so important, but it shouldn’t be. She said she was obsessed with trying to make everyone love her and how social media allowed her to get that validity. She has since “called herself out” saying all her photos were staged and she passed them off as natural so that people would think she was flawless. Pretty much she admitted she is fake, but the worse part is her new found enlightenment, for whatever reason, gives her the right to call out everyone on social media saying they are all like her. She implies that no one discloses (and believe me, as bloggers most all of us do because we are business people and operate as such) and that they all care so much about how they look (apparently SHE didn’t follow ME). There are some people who only show the good side, but like one blogger said “it isn’t so much we are showing our good side, but who wants to see and hear about all the bad things in our lives?”

Anyway, she goes on about unplugging from social media, but then she encourages everyone to come to her website and share what it was like and she wants to upload 3x a week, her content to share with us. How is this leaving social media? How would she feel if no one came to watch her videos?

I polled a bunch of my friends online and most all agreed.

I love what Kenda from Remaking June Cleaver had to say:

Social media doesn’t cause you problems. How much importance YOU put on it does. It’s an inanimate object. People make the choice. It taps into who you are, inside. The internet doesn’t “make” someone overshare – it facilitates their existing desire to do so, to fill whatever need they already had. It’s like alcohol…. it doesn’t change you, it reveals you. (and I don’t mean people can’t be fake online. I mean it reveals their need to be seen in a false way – for acceptance.)

Robin from Mom Foodie at Bloomi.com said:

I think people overestimate the importance of themselves in accounts like these. People following like their pictures & maybe the tips, most of them could give a hoot if they are “real” or staged. If you follow a bunch of fashion accounts it is like a free style magazine, not your personal idols. People need to get over themselves.I think people overestimate the importance of themselves in accounts like these. People following like their pictures & maybe the tips, most of them could give a hoot if they are “real” or staged. If you follow a bunch of fashion accounts it is like a free style magazine, not your personal idols. People need to get over themselves.

What do you think about it?