Look, I don’t spend a lot of time on social media.
Maybe I’m just too old for it, maybe I have better things to do with my life.
Maybe both.
But when I am on there, the algorithm tends to give me a lot of similar stuff. In no particular order: football, travel, photography, geography, quiz questions. Those kind of things.
And it was while I was watching a video from an American lady preparing to visit Africa (specifically Nigeria and Kenya), and asking the online world if she should be taking anti-malarial medication*, that I noticed that a local “influencer” – who is not medically qualified, obviously – commenting and saying no, she shouldn’t, because (and here I quote):
They just mask the symptoms of the actual illness.
This is quite clearly bullshit.
Now, we should all be well used to influencers spouting BS, because that’s how they make their money. Honestly, who in the right mind is going to genuinely criticise a brand or product that is paying for their flights, accommodation and everything else? But doing puff pieces for money is one thing (and yes, it’s actually rather iffy, isn’t it?). Giving medical advice – and at that, terrible, potentially life-threatening medical advice to strangers on the internet – when you have no qualification in the field at all, is quite another.
And so I called the local influencer out on it. Now, I should note here that I’m not a doctor either, but I do have plenty (or more) experience and qualifications in Microbiology and Biomedical Sciences.
I’ve also had malaria, and I know that it’s no joke. It can kill you (mine didn’t). You don’t want it.
Anyway, she chose not to reply [colour me shocked], but she did instantly block me on all platforms.
And OMG, it’s been so wonderful. I hadn’t realised how much of her content was being served to me and how intensely irritating I found it.
Are there any downsides to this? Well obviously, yes:
Now I’ll never know about “this secret beach just 30 minutes from Cape Town” that’s actually so “secret” that it’s completely packed every weekend. I don’t get to “guess which airport she’s flying into” from the shots out of the plane window. And I’ll never get to see another composite shot of her in a wood-fired hot tub beneath a startrails sky.
On that note, I took the hint and blocked her influencer boyfriend as well (IYKYK), and now my social media is now like a breath of fresh air.
Well, not that one, obviously, but I don’t go there anymore, anyway.
If you want to find me on those other platforms, look here.
And if you want my advice on how to make the online cesspit just a little bit more bearable? Unfollow all those influencers that are telling you how great so-and-so brand or product is, while not being completely honest, because if they were, they’d not get any more business. Rather look at Trip Advisor for more honest answers from people who actually had to pay their own way to get to where they were going.
* hey lady, hot tip: maybe try asking your doctor?
