Influenced: Logging Off

From burnout and backlash to privacy and new beginnings, the realities of stepping away from influencing.

One last scroll. One last refresh. One last check of who has viewed the story — and suddenly hours have disappeared.

For a generation that has grown up with their lives unfolding alongside social media, remaining constantly connected has become almost unremarkable. Now, many are choosing to put the phone down, delete the app or simply share a little less.

For creators, that decision can carry an even greater weight when followers, income and identity have all become tied to being visible.

So, after years of wanting to be seen online, are we finally learning the value of disappearing?

Stepping away from the socials

For Lily Ramsdale, 22, TikTok was never supposed to become particularly serious.

Lily had built a following of more than 13,000, posting the kind of videos millions of people upload every day: dancing with friends on nights out, partaking in trends, and generally having fun with an audience that happened to be growing.

Then, that viral effect happened. Instead of simply bringing more views, it brought strangers into her comments with opinions about her appearance, her friends and what they assumed she must be like behind the screen.

“All it took was one viral video for trolls to be in my comments and start commenting on our appearances,”

The comments did not stay neatly contained beneath the video either. Friends and acquaintances began asking her about what people were saying online, bringing something created by strangers on TikTok into her offline life.

“It was really unhealthy for me because when it got to the point where I was starting to believe a couple of those comments, I thought, ‘This is not good.’”

Lily deleted her videos, went “radio silent” and has not posted regularly for more than a year. The account still exists, ironically still used for her own everyday scrolling, but the desire to put herself in front of its audience has disappeared.

“I don't think I'll post again for a long time now.”

Lily's experience might be personal, but the urge to create some distance from social media is not unusual.

(Infographic Source: Ofcom, Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report 2023

Credit: krystenstein.com

Do Not Disturb...

For Lily, logging off meant stepping away from something she once enjoyed. For creators whose livelihoods depend on being online, pressing pause can carry much more weight.

Dr Krysten Stein, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College, believes creator culture has reached a turning point.

After years spent celebrating the freedom, visibility and financial opportunities social media can provide, attention is increasingly turning towards what maintaining that visibility can cost.

“I think that's one of the reasons we're seeing so many creators speak openly about burnout, privacy, and stepping away,”

The difficulty is that influencing rarely ends when the content has been posted. For creators who build platforms around their everyday lives, the person and the product can become almost impossible to separate.

“In most jobs, your work is something you do,” Stein says. “For many creators, particularly those whose content is rooted in their everyday lives, relationships, opinions, or personal experiences, the self becomes part of the work.”

After years spent sharing relationships, milestones, struggles and personal experiences with an audience, leaving can therefore mean more than changing jobs.

“When creators step away from social media, they're not simply walking away from a platform. They're often stepping away from the very thing that has made those opportunities possible.”

There is an emotional pull too. Creators can spend years building communities and relationships with followers they genuinely value, making a break feel like distancing themselves from a career and a community at the same time.

Stein says platforms reward consistency and continual participation, meaning creators can worry that time away will cost them views, growth, brand deals or future opportunities.

“Taking a break can therefore feel risky because they're not simply pausing content production. They worry about losing relationships they've invested significant time and emotional labor into building.”

For some, even taking care of themselves can come with guilt.

“Stepping away can generate feelings of guilt or responsibility, as though taking care of yourself means letting your audience down.”

Perhaps the biggest problem, then, is that creators technically can log off at any time — but everything about the industry encourages them not to.

As Stein puts it, constant visibility can begin to feel “less like a choice and more like an occupational requirement.”

Changing Perceptions

Creators are not the only ones reconsidering their relationship with social media. Audiences may be changing too.

Dr Zari Taylor, whose research examines digital culture and the creator economy, believes “the allure of influencing is slipping a little bit”.

“People aren't necessarily falling for it as much as they might have before"

Part of that may come down to an increasing disconnect between the lives on our screens and the realities outside them. Watching another PR unboxing or luxury brand trip can land differently when audiences are worrying about rent, food and the cost of everyday life.

Influencer culture has long relied on relatability, but Taylor believes audiences are becoming more sceptical of that relationship.

“Influencers have to be vulnerable and authentic, but I think people aren't buying into that as much anymore.”

That does not mean influencing is disappearing. Instead, Taylor believes it could become less polished and more seamlessly woven into other forms of online entertainment.

(Infographic Source: Deloitte’s Digital Consumer Trends research)

Ultimately, logging off doesn’t have to mean disappearing completely. It can be as simple as deleting an app, switching off notifications or deciding that some moments don’t need an audience.

After years of sharing everything, perhaps the new luxury is keeping some things for yourself.