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Under deinfluence

3 min read

I wrote a few weeks ago about “influencers,” the bane of social media. As their name implies, these self-styled experts exert undue sway over their followers. Influencers – both celebrities and newcomers – often recommend beauty products, clothing or “must have” items for the home – a $600 Dyson Airwrap hair styler, for example. Influencers also help to spread false information about politics and health as well as gender and racial issues. I don’t like influencers. As it turns out, neither do a lot of other people. They call themselves “deinfluencers.”

The cause célèbre of deinfluencers is to disprove the often exaggerated claims made by product manufacturers and their pitchmen – in short, to stop you from wasting money or acting foolishly. In this regard the biggest deinfluencer in my life was probably my mom. After putting up with my childhood antics for too long, she finally said in exasperation, “Stop that or I’ll rip off your arm and beat you with the bloody stump!” She denied having said this, but even I – whose imagination is, perhaps, too vivid – could not have invented such a bizarre threat.

I’m probably safe from being influenced and thus have no need to seek out deinfluencers. That’s because I don’t look to celebrities or social media for advice on … well … anything. I have never used Tik-Tok and never will. I dumped Twitter when it became clear that Elon Musk was intent on living up to his self-proclaimed title of “Chief Twit.” It’s true that when I consider making a new purchase, I often look online for reviews. If the product has overwhelmingly negative feedback, I’ll steer clear. But I count this as exercising due diligence, not being deinfluenced. It seems I’m a dying breed.

Tik-Tok content creators who post using the “#deinfluencing” tag have amassed more than 50 million views of their short videos. Women far outnumber men as deinfluencers, and most videos deal with analyzing and discrediting the overabundance of beauty products being foisted on us. But many of the videos fall into the category of lifestyle advice. A young woman who goes by the handle “livekindly” has made it her life’s purpose to convince Tik-Tokers that they don’t need the multiplicity of products being offered on Amazon. One of her videos displays multiple styles and colors of body suits, thongs, rompers and other outfits. “You don’t need these clothes from Amazon,” she says, matter-of-factly. I like her.

I’m also taken with 20-year-old “michelleskidelsky,” who has more than 170 videos on a variety of subjects. My favorite video by her, however, is one titled “Tik-Tok is not a scholarly journal and I am not an authority figure.” I really like her.

I applaud the rise of deinfluencing. But I must ask, isn’t deinfluencing merely influencing under another name? Prove me wrong. But tread carefully.

If you succeed, my mom will rip off your arm and beat you with the bloody stump.

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