So I’m a small social media influencer and I don’t even like to call myself that because it’s often attached to negativity but I do take higher quality pictures and often promote products on my page. I have not experienced it first hand but all the time on the internet and what not I see everyone making fun of influencers or saying “these people are problem”, “they’re fake”, “they’re just using people to sell stuff”, “they’re meaningless” “shallow”.

Anyways it’s a hobby for me. I’m a stay at home mom and I’m mentally ill. I never finished high school. So my options in life are more limited. I couldn’t hold a job if I wanted to because my mental health problems tend to get in the way of my functioning. Being an “influencer” is something I started doing for fun because it’s at my speed and I can do things on my own time. But I feel like people think I’m fake and whatnot and that doesn’t sit well with me.

I don’t try to hide when I promote products when I’m obviously promoting a product you can keep scrolling if your not interested.. I’m not pretending but let me be clear that social media is a small portion of my life and if you think I owe everyone a window into my entire life then sorry I don’t, I’m actually a really private person. My life consists of being a mom and I am someone who spends a lot of time being mentally unstable (with Bipolar Disorder) and no I don’t want to share or talk about it, it’s my business and I don’t owe anyone. I agree with being yourself and being authentic BUT that being said you don’t have to share everything with everyone, you aren’t obligated to and that’s ok and it doesn’t make you fake for not sharing your personal life or only letting people in to an extent, there’s nothing wrong with being private and there’s nothing wrong with using social media as platforms to sell things and create content.

Edit: thank you for you responses. I would like to add I don’t promote any supplements and things like that because it’s just not my thing. I also don’t distort my body and edit my body. I agree those aspects to it make it iffy for people but generalizing an entire group of people is just as shallow in my opinion. Anyone commenting “most are fake” as if you know them is pretty judgmental.