Growing up, many children fantasize about their favorite superheroes, musicians, artists and characters. These people are often made out to be positive influences on younger generations.
With social media being an influential aspect of life today, it can be difficult to see the true intentions of who children are looking up to. Filters, advertisements and editing are all capable of portraying a different light on these influencers and celebrities.
Eighth grader Molly Butcher is one of many Junior High students that idolize celebrities. “I think that it can be really important for people to have idols that are a young age because they are so many positive and well educated young people on social media,” she stated. “Especially this year with our whole generation learning lessons and growing off one another.”
Stereotypes surrounding different types of celebrities waive children’s perspective on who to look up to. For example, an actor playing a superhero is more likely to have a larger fan base of children than one that plays a villain. It is similar for music genres as well. Music that is not aimed at adolescents, rap, hip-hop, etc. has more fans of older ages due to the content they create.
With the platform TikTok gaining popularity this year, many influencers are pressured to provide content that is appropriate for all ages. Most popular influencers including Charli D’amelio, Addison Rae, Chase Hudson and Noah Beck have proven to be the largest influencers on the app.
Butcher “On some social media platforms multiple creators and famous people have sort of a hidden shell that is kept to just them, so no one else knows everything about them or sees who they truly are because they could be scared of judgment.”
Some celebrities who do not participate in social media choose to opt out of this judgement. When fans and followers are not allowed into their personal lives via social media, there is not as much room to create bias and judge off of other than what is already out in the world.
Other celebrities tend to follow trends just as normal people do because they can gain a larger following on different up and coming platforms. Senior Isabel Russmann has younger siblings and dislikes this trend. “This is really an issue for my brother, he is constantly picking up things that these influencers are doing, which is not always good things that a 12 year old boy should be learning.”
In a generation where social media is the main focus, children and teens have access to content that has a range of intentions. With influencers and celebrities using their platforms for different purposes, their followers are given the opportunity to pick and choose who they idolize.
