85 per cent of young people have unfollowed influencers since the start of lockdown

A Tab survey has found 85 per cent of young people have unfollowed influencers since the start of lockdown.

On our Instagram story we asked students if they had recently unfollowed influencers and out of 1,648 people, the majority of them voted yes to unfollowing.

When speaking to one individual they said they had recently unfollowed the influencer Grace Beverley as they had just had “enough of it all”.

After sharing the results with a number of students, the majority of them said they weren’t surprised with the results.

One student, Sanj, said she thinks everyone has suddenly realised how unrealistic the lifestyles influencers post are.

She said: “I don’t think it’s surprising, especially after the whole Dubai stuff and the pandemic, I think a lot of people have realised that influencers are living unrealistic lives and people now know that the only way to strip them of their influencing power is to unfollow them.”

Even people who are not actively engaged with influencers on social media are becoming increasingly annoyed at the hypocrisy of them. One student, Zara, told The Tab she doesn’t follow influencers but has become “irked by the whole situation”.

She found herself angry at the many people who criticised the late Captain Tom’s trip to Barbados, as she thought those same people would probably be liking influencers’ Dubai pictures.

She said: “When Captain Tom died, lots of people were trolling in comments sections about the fact that he went to Barbados last month, and that he shouldn’t have done that and risked his health.

“And yet this is the same society that is supposed to be influenced and inspired by a young woman going camel riding in Dubai? It just really made me angry that they were picking on him for that trip and yet probably still liking influencers’ swimwear photos.”

However it’s not just trips to luxurious locations like Dubai and Tulum that have people disengaging with influencers. Last week we spoke to 15 people who shared their reasons for unfollowing.

Their answers ranged from promoting fast fashion, loss of originality, promoting the pressure to look a certain way and supporting racial micro aggressions.

And with many influencers losing up to 25,000 followers after their trips to Dubai, maybe we really will start to see less PrettyLittleThing clad influencers doing makeup tutorials and workouts on our feeds.

Featured image credit via Instagram @mollymaehague

Related stories recommended by this writer:

•We asked 15 people why they’re unfollowing influencers, and Dubai isn’t the only reason

•These are the influencers who are still ‘working hard’ in Dubai

•Ranked: The reality stars who have lost thousands of followers whilst in Dubai