I'm always drawn with complete morbid fascinating with "influencer" culture as I largely have avoided social media. I have exactly one social media account of the major, Facebook (arguably the worst of them all) but deleted the app off my phone about 4 years ago. I'm including YouTube in this, as it should be considered a social network and reddit, which I avoid. I'm convinced that vast majority of social media is an anecdoche.

So when I read about influencers asking for free meals at restaurants, I experience a clash of contradictory thoughts simultaneously: "Who has the gall to cold-call a restaurants for a free meal because they have 50,000 Instagram followers?", "I'm surprised this happens", "I am not surprised in the least bit", "this is scam verges on genius", "major brands will give famous people free shit, why not small businesses give those with tiny soap box for cheap advertising?", and "everything about this is idiotic" followed by general self-satisfied feeling of being above it all, despite my immediate desire to share/discuss it with my friends.

Over marketization of all facets of life has made even the most mudane activity a transactional exchange that can be sold thanks to social media. Its all viewed through the nihilistic world view that anyone has a "personal brand". Any experience, even a wedding proposal is a marketing opportunity, and people flock to toxic lakes. The irony is influencers are internet points that may or may not mean a damn thing, an influencer with 2 million followers couldn't sell 36 t-shirts.

If there's one thing that is certainly true, it's further evidence of the enshittening.