Youths are accepting more and more that social media influencers are regular people and are resisting the urge to mimic the lifestyle represented by some of these internet sensations.

That was the sentiment from several student leaders at the Safer Internet Youth Summit on Tuesday, February 7 at the Karl Hendrickson Auditorium, Jamaica College. The Summit, an annual event hosted by Flow and the Flow Foundation, was held in observance of Safer Internet Day which promotes online safety as a key pillar of the growing digital economy.

According to Gabrielle Bryan, President of the Jamaica Prefects Association, influencers are not as influential to teens as they once were.

“We see in the online space a lot of influencers seemingly living such lavish lifestyles but persons are becoming more aware of the fact that this isn’t actually true and that they are normal people, just like you and I, as they go about their daily lives and that they do have challenges themselves,” said Bryan, who was a part of the panel discussion, ‘Surviving the Internet: Skills, Mindset and Attitudes Teens Need to Avoid Online Harm’.

In fact, many social media influencers are paid to subtly promote brands using native or organic branding opportunities where the product is integrated in their lifestyles, giving the impression that it is normal. Another panellist, Dannyelle-Jordan Bailey, President of the National Secondary Students’ Council, argues that while some teens are intrigued by the social media lifestyle, others are consciously choosing to go against internet trends and be true to themselves.

“Some persons want to portray the idea that they have somewhat of a perfect life, especially on the internet where everyone is going to see them. But at the same time there are some moments on social media platforms where people are being raw and unfiltered and showing themselves even on a bad day. So there is a mixture of people being raw and very natural and those who want to appear perfect,” Bailey stated.

Psychologist Dr Craig McNally pointed out that the dopamine loop is one of the biggest reasons for the representation of the larger-than-life personalities which dominate social media. Lavish lifestyles and materialism on social media are often rewarded with likes and favourable comments, which when viewed by the user, releases the feel-good chemical, dopamine, in the brain. This chemical is also released during intimacy, online shopping, and binge scrolling.

“The thing with dopamine is that it wears off quickly so as soon as you get a hit and you’re on a high it soon wears off and then you go in search of another hit,” explained Dr McNally, adding that youths should fill that need for dopamine by representing positive things about their lives on social media.

“If you are in a club, like Key Club or Octagon Club, and you are doing a project, put that on social media. If you are having a concert, put that on social media,” McNally emphasised.

The student-led panel discussion was followed by a main panel featuring leading personalities Rohan ‘Quite Perry’ Perry, Wayne ‘Wayne Marshall’ Mitchell, and Dr Terri-Karelle Reid. A major theme during their discussion was the importance of authenticity on social media and finding balance between online life and real life. During the Q&A session afterwards, several students also spoke of the psychological impact of social media content and their desire to find their true space and voice online.

The Safer Internet Youth Summit forms part of Flow’s online safety programme, Connected and Protected, which is a year-long activity targeting all demographics on internet safety best practices.