“Social media influencer” Kai Cenat, 21, recently caused a big riot in New York City. Ever heard of him? Me neither. But he’s got 6-1/2 million followers on Twitch. Ever heard of Twitch? Me neither. Also four million on YouTube, where his videos have gotten 276 million views. He’s been named “streamer of the year.”
Thousands of Cenat’s followers were lured to the New York shebang with promises of free merch. Chaos ensued, entailing violence galore, with 65 arrested, including Cenat.
The term “influencer” makes my skin crawl. All those people fixated on scrolling through screens — what the heck is so mesmerizing there? Much, apparently, is watching “influencers.” People who post videos of themselves taming lions, summiting Everest — well no, actually, nothing like that, but rather more pedestrian fare. (Cenat posts goofy stuff about daily life and pranks.) But they are, somehow or other, seen as “cool.” Enabling them to “influence” the purchase of brand name products, and profit either via ads tacked on to their videos, or kickbacks for directly pitching goods. In other words, these are commercials.
TV advertisers once strove for cleverness to hold eyeballs while interrupting entertainment. Here the ads themselves become the entertainment; the tail wagging the dog. There’s a place in society for skilled, slick merchandisers. And performers like Cenat may be fun to watch. But what bugs me is: why should that give them influence over their fans? Cenat himself later confessed surprise that he’d influenced followers to behave as they did. And to buy stuff, one might add. It begs the question: how shallow can you be?
I recall a local news story concerning a family with a young daughter, basically living immured in her bedroom, with scant social interaction. Sounded pretty sad. Yet her “occupation” was given as an “influencer” — ! I wondered who’s influenced by someone like that.
But there is money to be made — a lot of money. Another article I read concerned Ryan Kaji, who started as a three-year-old with videos of him playing with toys. Very unique entertainment, surely. Now at age 11, he’s a multi-millionaire, and his family’s production company employs thirty.
Well, I do believe in the free market, and if a kid can sell something for which others willingly pay, then more power to him. And if people want to spend their time scrolling through insipid videos that are really just ads, it’s a free country. I don’t mock consumerism, folks are also free to spend as they choose, which sustains our economy. Yet still, I want to say to these people: get a life.
And while citizens are transfixed by all this social media piffle, America — perhaps not unrelatedly — careens toward possibly electing a cartoonishly vile president.
But maybe I’m just a grumpy old man.
