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  • The Atlantic

    Even Influencers Are Scared of the Internet

    Jenn Im posts about the harms of social media on social media, creating a new kind of “meta-content.” And she’s not alone.
    by Katherine Hu Apr 17, 2023 6 minutes
    Source: Illustration by Joanne Imperio / The Atlantic. Source: Courtesy of Jenn Im.

    My longest parasocial relationship, with a popular beauty influencer named Jenn Im, is going eight years strong. I discovered her in a vlog titled “Meet My Boyfriend” and have, along with more than 3 million other subscribers, kept up with what she eats in a day and her monthly beauty favorites ever since. Her videos have become a salve for my brain, allowing me to relax by watching someone else’s productive, aesthetic life.

    Jenn, however, has complicated things by adding an unexpected topic to her repertoire: the dangers of social media. She recently spoke about disengaging from it for her well-being; she also posted an Instagram Story about the risks of ChatGPT and, in none other than a YouTube video, recommended Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, a seminal piece of media critique from 1985 that denounces television’s reduction of life to entertainment. (Her other book recommendations included Stolen Focus, by Johann Hari, and , by Jamie Wheal.)

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