Humanity and Influencers

 

Youtubers, Tik-tokers and streamers saw a huge boost in popularity when COVID-19 had made itself known. Virtual and non-virtual  streamers saw a significant rise in their audience and views during the pandemic’s peak as people had become increasingly isolated from the outside world due to the strict regulations. While the hype and excitement died down as the pandemic, the taste of having a virtual streamer as your idol and as a source of entertainment still remained. 

If you are a content creator and pander to a certain type of audience, you will find haters and stalkers amidst them all the time.Some chronically-online viewers might forget the line between reality and the virtual world and start to become overly possessive of their favourite streamer. That feeling of connection, where you feel like the streamer or creator is your friend or just someone towards whom you feel a connection is called a parasocial relationship.

Now before you panic and label yourself as a parasocial person, the good news is that the term is used in a generalised manner. Meaning, it does not necessarily imply that you are an obsessive fan who is deluded to the point where you think that the streamer is your husband/ wife or your BFF.

Virtual Youtubing or VTubing in short, is a form of content creation where the person uses a 3-D model to interact with their audience. The concept of Vtubing in mainstream media is similar to idols ( K-pop and J-Pop ) , where the Vtubers debut as a group under a company or as an independent streamer. They produce their own music, cover famous songs and overall, maintain a persona that is very idol-like. But there are vtubers who managed to grow their audience through gaming and gaming-related tournaments. 

However, reliance on these influencers (even the non-virtual ones ) for entertainment to escape the complications of real-life issues breeds chronically-online people who have long-forgotten the distance between the virtual world and the real world. 

One such incident, the termination of a well-known and loved Vtuber in the virtual world shook the core of social media and made itself known to the mainstream media as well. This incident begged the question: Aren't' content creators, virtual or not, humans too?

Whilst the termination and its tense build-up stemmed from other reasons, the after-effects of the notice and the public’s backlash severely dented the faith people had in the Vtubers who belonged to the same space as the terminated one, prompting a mass un-subscription event and endless hate towards the talents. The incident had already escalated due to mismanagement on the company’s side, eventually leading its talents to bear the brunt of the public’s anger. 

The details of the incident are right here but the actual theme of this article is much more so than that: where is our humanity towards these strangers?

Why have we regressed into hateful and malicious individuals who operate only in black?

Why are we leeching off of the hate and drama? 

What are we going to do to solve this problem?

Malice and Hate towards strangers

It is a well-known fact that content creators are logically strangers to us no matter what connection we feel towards them. Especially in this age where we are able to interact with creators more freely than before, it is important to remember that these creators are still strangers to us. 

And most crucially, they are still humans behind the camera.

It is strange to see people go absolutely rabid ( sending death threats and exhibiting dangerous behaviour) when these creators fumble or make a mistake. There are exceptions when a creator admits to a bad deed and receives backlash for that but sometimes, in cases where the evidence is too little to point fingers, fans still go feral and go through with the hate and harassment of the creators. Cancel culture is, frankly speaking, the worst nightmare a content creator can have. 

But inexcusable behaviour like stalking, flinging items at celebrities during concerts, death threats etc are unbecoming of us. Why?

Because we are the living organisms that are considered the most intelligent out of every known organism in this entire planet yet here we are, acting blindly without thinking twice about the person behind the screen. The person who is just as human as we are.  

People inflict harm on these strangers just because they wish to have a fraction of fame or because of some personal agenda…all I can say is that you need to get off of your screen and go and reconnect with the real world again.

Chronically Online and Escapism

People scramble for a reason to hate someone these days. It is a sad situation that can still change if people normalise things like keeping things to themselves and staying humble instead of chasing clout for attention. It is either that or they have become chronically-online and are actively relying on the internet to escape the harsh and mundane situations of their lives. 

Why are people actively relying on the hate and drama to live?

1. Escapism and Validation: The internet offers an escape from the simplicity and challenges of real life. It provides instant gratification and validation through likes, shares, and comments. For some, this becomes an addictive cycle, where online interactions start to hover over real-life relationships and responsibilities.

2. Anonymity and Deindividuation: The relative anonymity of the internet encourages people to express harsh and often unwarranted criticism. This deindividuation effect, where individuals feel less accountable for their actions, encourages behaviour that they might avoid in face-to-face interactions. Deindividuation leads to people losing their hold on their thoughts and behaviour, making them overly-expressive and unable to hold back their harsher opinions.

3. Schadenfreude: A psychological phenomenon where people feel pleasure over someone else’s downfall. The word ‘ schadenfreude’ literally translates to ‘ damage-joy’. Watching celebrities who have a clean record and who lead glamorous lives receive public backlash over a controversy, whether or not they are truthfully involved in it, inspires people to feel pleasure over the drama. 

4. Loneliness and isolation have since increased during the pandemic and have left a long-lasting effect on everyone. It is also one of the key contributors to the population of the chronically-online people who seek the Internet to escape the lack of human contact.

The Solution 

Get off of your screens. Now . Go touch grass and seek professional help if you feel like you might need it.

That momentary rush of euphoria, from hearing gossip and drama or when the people in your group chat agree that a certain person is bad, is temporary and toxic. It is addictive as well. It is not good for your health just as drugs aren't good for you when taken in excess. 

Reality may feel disappointing when your favourite artist or influencer turns out to be a bad person or when they get into a controversy that puts their reputation on thin ice, but guess what?

You still have a lot to live and achieve instead of wasting your time aggressively scrolling through news feeds, X ( formerly Twitter ) posts and Reddit. A social media break every once in a while does wonders to your mental health and is a must in everybody’s routine since nearly everyone is battling with internet addiction. 

  

You don’t need to torture yourself by continually feeding your addiction neither does that online person deserve your hateful or harsh comments. 

Be mindful  of what you speak on the internet since you never know what the person behind the screen is genuinely going through.    

Last but not least, learn to spread peace instead of hate. Your words can carry a peaceful impact instead of a harsher one too.