I want to log out: Why content creators are getting tired of influencing

In the beginning the Internet was an escape from real life mdash a safe space for the weird kids away from the judgment of the cliques Then came the influencer content creators who shared bits of their lives and audiences fell in love We made parasocial relationships with them projected our hopes and desires onto them and saw our own selves in them You could count the select few who actually made it big mdash the Prajakta Kolis and Bhuvan Bams aka MostlySane and BB ki Vines mdash whatever happened to pseudonyms of the worldThen somewhere between the 2014 Internet explosion and COVID19 we became permanently logged in Now everyone is creating content and wants to become an influencer Your friend with 500 followers posts curated dumps and vlogs Ask a firstgrader their dream job and theyrsquod probably say ldquoinfluencerrdquoPICINSTAGRAMtwinklestanlyLast week creator Twinkle Stanly posted a Reel saying ldquoBeing a content creator isnrsquot intellectually stimulatingrdquo Stanly had garnered over six lakh followers when she said ldquoA lot of the time you are working alonehellip In a real company you have performance evaluations you have to show uphellip Being a content creator means Irsquom no longer in those spaces and Irsquom not learning from people who are so much better than me which is so important in your 20srdquoThen earlier this week Taneesha Mirwani better known as taneesho to her 62 lakh followers posted a video on YouTube expressing influencer fatigue ldquoBeing in such an industry where people only want to move forward no matter what it takes I find it hard sometimes to continue being me when others are rewarded so greatly for going about it the more convenient wayrdquo she saysldquoMy reality I hate events I hate seeing the same people having the same conversationshellip But I will still gohellip And then I have to make it seem like I had the best time of my life because Sephora might do a brand deal with me I was going to say no to a trip with my parents because The Devil Wears Prada 2 had to be on my page I didnrsquot even like the movie lsquoI have to know about Hailey Bieber I have to be the first to get a new makeup launch I have to have international PRrsquo These are things I actually hear people around me say Itrsquos crazy I hate it I donrsquot want to become this personrdquoEven though creators have the supposed dream job theyrsquore getting tired of the culture around it Now that wersquore a decade deep into the influencer economy what happens when you get tired of the dream jobWe ask Mirwani herself ldquoI love creating content mdash the ideating the editing all of it is very fun for merdquo she says ldquoBut when you start gauging your audience you start realising what they like and itrsquos very easy to get sucked in FOMO culture has become too big These trivial things mdash that only exist online mdash become too important to our daily livesrdquoMirwani herself has been at it for 10 years blowing up on Instagram in 2020 for her comedy skits Over the years as her life changed so did her content mdash college lifestyle then food and fashion after she graduated and rejected a fulltime job to pursue content creationMirwani hypothesises that itrsquos not the content causing the fatigue but the culture around it ldquoEveryone makes a big show of going to fancy events but most people donrsquot even enjoy them You go take your pictures get your products and leave Everyonersquos gone in 10 to 15 minutes Itrsquos just so fakerdquo She points to the infamous Fenty Beauty launch where Rihanna was set to appear ldquoI had just come back from the US I was dying I was so tired My friend said lsquoNo you have to come Rihanna will be therersquo I hit a point and thought Is this what we care about now My health is on the line hererdquoWhen every other creator you meet is technically a competitor in the neverending chase of Internet clout it becomes harder and harder to make friends ldquoI have personally seen a lot of friendships and a lot of influencers get competitive with each otherrdquo Mirwani has chosen to keep her circle close ldquoIrsquom on good terms with everybody but there are only have two or three people in the influencer industry that I would consider closerdquo she says ldquoIrsquom 24 and Irsquove reached a certain age where I have my close friends Even if I was in another industry I wouldnrsquot actively be making new friends anyway because I feel quite happy and secure with the friendships I already haverdquoAs for the future ldquoThe largerpicture plan is to pivot into something else and do this for fun Itrsquos definitely not something I want to rely on for money forever If I have to do it to pay the bills it takes the fun out for merdquolsquoContent creation was never the goalrsquoShreemi Verma 36 Twitter creatorShreemi Verma was Twitterfamous before being Twitterfamous meant anything With 47000 followers built on wit and film commentary she was exactly the kind of person brands and producers went looking for when they needed funny people on the Internet ldquoTwitter just opened a gateway of sortsrdquo she says ldquoAt that time people used to look for funny people on it to give them workrdquoFor Shreemi Verma working behind the camera was always more interesting PICSAYYED SAMEER ABEDIBut unlike many of her contemporaries Verma never made the jump to Instagram mdash partly by choice partly by temperament ldquoBeing an Instagram influencer requires a lot of effort You need to know camera angles the latest trends transitions It did not come naturally to me It still doesnrsquotrdquo While others were pivoting to Reels and building visual brands she kept her head down and stuck to her day job ldquoIrsquove always had a job because I live in Mumbai and I like living a good liferdquo she jokesThat parallel track mdash Internet presence alongside steady employment mdash is what eventually paid off Her Twitter visibility led to a writing gig at MissMalini which led to working on Koffee with Karan which led to her current role as a creative producer at Bhuvan Bamrsquos production house She also cohosts Cine5 a film podcast with creator Karan Mirchandani produced by IVM ldquoItrsquos my comfort zone me talking about cinema I donrsquot have to deal with the editing the posts or the subtitlesrdquoContent creation was never the goal ldquoI was just tweeting my thoughtsrdquo she says ldquoIrsquom old school I still watch films I still watch TV shows My goal has always been to make a longform series or a filmrdquo Shortform content camerafirst creation mdash none of it ever appealed to her ldquoIrsquom 36 and I canrsquot change my viewing habits anymorerdquo Turns out she didnrsquot have tolsquoCreators can never switch offrsquoAyush Guha Influencermanagement expertHas influencer culture hit a saturation point Ayush Guha who was the National Head at Creator18 agency and was part of the founding team at talent management agency HYPP doesnrsquot think so ldquoFive years back we would love and appreciate each piece of content But now because we are watching so much and creators are creating so much the value per piece of content is reduced mdash which is in turn creating fatigue amongst the creators making themrdquoShortform content has added to this ldquoPeople want more consistency and connection from their audience So yoursquoll see a lot of creators do longform content alongside Instagram which gives them the creative space to connect at a deeper levelrdquo Influencers find it hard to escape the algorithm ldquoIf you switch off you become irrelevant in a couple of weeksrdquoOver the years OG creators have been pivoting to business ventures translating audience loyalty into something more permanent ldquoI think this is inevitable Creators have such big distribution channels and loyal communitiesrdquo Guha says ldquoViraj Ghelani viraj_ghelani got married did movies opened a cafeacute and is still creatingrdquo Other examples include Kusha Kapila kushakapila who started shapewear brand Underneath and Meghna Kaur shetroublemaker and Radhika Seth radhikasethh started a coffee company togetherToo often creators get stuck in their boxes ldquoA creatorrsquos journey is not just to become an actor Most creatorsrsquo journeys are to have their own businesses production houses YouTube content programming consulting jobs These are far closer to a creatorrsquos job than actingrdquolsquoThe scrutiny is a lotrsquoIpsita Chatterjee PsychotherapistWorking alone being chronically online has its own effects on the psyche Clinical psychologist Ipsita Chatterjee tells us ldquoEvery job requires you to show up even if yoursquore having a bad day but then you only have to face your colleagues But influencers show up to lakhs of people and they are under constant scrutinyrdquoWhen influencers talk about their struggles they fear sounding airheaded and complaining about champagne problems ldquoThey donrsquot have anyone to share their problems with and the people who might actually understand those problems are also their direct competitorsrdquoWhat does constant scrutiny do to onersquos mental health ldquoEven celebrities are under scrutiny But their job ends once they go home For influencers every single moment of their life mdash from morning showers to getting ready for the day mdash is part of their jobrdquo she says ldquoA lot of us go to watch Reels to relax after a long day But for influencers even social media is market research They are always lsquoonrsquordquoChatterjee cites a case from April 2025 when a 24yearold influencer with over three lakh followers died by suicide Her family said the influencer was anxious with reaching one million followers and was depressed by her slow follower growth ldquoItrsquos very easy for us to brush off this anxiety faced by influencers or dismiss it But when yoursquore inside it it is very very real Itrsquos the same as someone thinking life is not worth it when they donrsquot get promoted or they donrsquot get certain marks in the Class 12rdquolsquoOnline advocacy can get mentally drainingrsquoNaksi Timbadia 22 Feminist content creatorA new crop of creators the Internet has dubbed ldquothought daughtersrdquo is on the rise mdash creators who focus on academic intellectual content and breaking down larger issues One of them is 22yearold Naksi Timbadia borderline_lesbian who has garnered over 24000 followersNaksi Timbadia finds that most influencers donrsquot align with her politically PICSATEJ SHINDENaksi finds it difficult to make friends in the influencer community Political alignment matters deeply to her and ldquoitrsquos appalling to me when I see someone using the word autistic so casuallyrdquo she says referring to a citybased influencer group gets its name from playing on the word lsquoautismrsquo ldquoOr Orry going around saying slurs like chhkka transphobic slurrdquo she adds Naksi also sees casteism running rampant among peers ldquoI saw a post calling someonersquos dyed hair chhpri casteist slur Then I saw another hair influencer comment lsquoShould we launch laal chhpri colour hairrsquordquoHer page is entirely built around feminist advocacy ldquoYou have to read really brutal news every day you have to be factually correct and you have to deal with a lot of criticism mdash not just hate There will be times where you make a comment that other feminists wonrsquot agree with There have been times Irsquove been wrong and Irsquove gone online and said lsquoHey I was wrong Irsquove taken my video down herersquos how Irsquom going to learn betterrsquordquoHer escape from this fatigue is taking things offline She runs Her Autonomy mdash a feminist community and safe third space with offline events and reading circles across the country ldquoAt the same time Irsquom also going to do more lifestyle and fashion content mdash but the feminist lens is always going to be there while redirecting the narrativerdquo