The Influencer Economy Is Warping the American Dream

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Professional influencing—put simply, making a living from creating and sharing content about one’s personal life—can seem like a bizarre career choice. In some ways it is. But taking the influencer economy seriously can help us better understand how the contours of the “American dream” are shifting for a new generation.

First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic:

• What your favorite personality test says about you
• Fox News lost the lawsuit but won the war.
• This country will break our hearts again.

Love and Hate

would become an influencer if given the chance. This statistic, from a 2019 Morning Consult report, has made the rounds found that 23 percent of the generation never expects to retire, while 59 percent does not own or expect to own a home in their lifetime, numbers that were higher than for any other generation surveyed. Gen Z was also more likely to work multiple jobs and do independent work, despite many of them wanting more permanent roles.