I think people don’t give enough credit to the weird ways social media clout messes with your head. We’re all teasing people for being “clout hounds” and all that, but we’re not talking about how sites like Twitter push you to gain clout and then punish you for having it.

Especially when it comes to kids. I get it, it’s normal to dream about being famous when you’re a kid. But internet celebrity is like the worst parts of real celebrity with barely any of the benefits. At least famous actors are insulated from the rampant hate they get.

Yeah, celebrity culture is super vapid, but it exists in a bubble of vapidity away from hate. The internet is like “You like a thing? Cool, here’s a community devoted to hating fans of this thing. They just noticed you because your post went viral, have fun.”

Irl celebrities have like money and other things that protect them from the general public. The internet is designed to funnel money to big platforms rather than individuals, so like your next door neighbor can have millions of followers and still need a day job.

Say what you will about irl celebrities being out of touch or even using their privilege to hide awful things, but at least their industries care about protecting them. Twitter doesn’t give a shit about you. They want you to pump out viral posts for ads and that’s it.

At the same time, you’re told that more clout will make you happy and safe. Just a little more, you’re almost there. The people at the very top are like regular celebrities and so can you, just keep making those sweet sweet monitizable tweets.

Oops, you got into trouble? Irl celebrities have PR teams to make sure everything goes smoothly, but you have to do it all yourself. This is just the indie spirit. Surely you don’t want to be a total sellout, right? Just manage that media circus all by yourself.

Anyway, this thread is super unfocused. My point is, internet celebrity really doesn’t seem like something to aspire to. It seems like a something that makes social media platforms more money with zero effort on their part. And pushing it on kids is kinda a bad idea.