 At the time of recording this video, in the United States alone, there have been over 4 million cases of COVID-19. On top of that, we have almost 144,000 deaths from this novel coronavirus. I remember when the pandemic first started and as I tried to calm down my anxiety, I told myself that I wouldn't freak out until the deaths passed. How many people die from the common flu each year? Well, about 60,000 people die from the flu each year in the United States and we're only in July and we've more than doubled that. One of the main ways I calm my anxiety is focusing on what I can control rather than what I can't. So my son, my girlfriend and I wash our hands regularly and we don't leave our house unless absolutely necessary. I've had plenty of friends suggest hanging out but I've told them no because of the pandemic and I know how many people aren't adhering to the pandemic guidelines. In order to limit our exposure, I go to the grocery store by myself and wear a mask each time. But although myself and many of you watching this are doing the best you can to slow down this pandemic in order to keep ourselves, our loved ones and others around the world safe, there are many people walking around as if nothing in this world is different. And specifically for this video, we're going to be discussing tip-talkers and other influencers who are being bad influences with their behaviors during this pandemic. I first felt as though I was living in a different reality when I watched Codyco's video on the Hollywood fix following tip-talkers. While his video was hilarious and discussing this man who follows these kids around, I couldn't help but notice the lack of masks and social distancing. Not only are these tip-talk influencers interacting with each other without masks, but I noticed that they're even interacting with fans without masks. This wasn't an isolated incident either. Around that same time, I saw James Charles with tip-talkers doing a collaboration. And since then, James has also done collaborations with Charlie and Dixie D'Amelio. As we continue to see tip-talkers and YouTubers continue to collaborate, people like you and I wonder if we're going to ever get out of this pandemic. Recently, it's become even worse and more influencers are calling out their friends. After news broke about tip-talkers and YouTubers having a party at the Hype House, Philip DeFranco had some choice words for influencers. If you are one of these influencers, some I've had on my podcast, some I genuinely like, stop being a piece of garbage. You, based off of some sort of uneven mix of a good looks, talent, luck, hard work, luck, have an audience, you have influence. If you are using that influence to promote behavior that is not helpful to society, not helpful to this new normal that we're living in and some even going further and promoting negative behavior because it's just so much fun. You are, in this moment, garbage. I'm not going to say that's who you are at the core. And I just really hope that these people do not deflect in this moment that when we see people going like, oh, I learned that that's real, though I am tired that we are having to still have learning experiences and this thing that just continually happened for months now. And we're seeing that story almost every day of someone going like, I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but learn from my mistakes. Apparently no one's learning. Also what makes it kind of more infuriating is some of the people involved in this have been seemingly, I don't know if it was like a staged campaign where money was transferred or they were just trying to get views, but a number have promoted safe behavior and then there's seen just not abiding by that same stuff and understand a lot of where my frustration and anger is coming from. It's not because I'm worried about the health of TikTok, your professional mess. The way that life was right now is you got it because you're bad behavior and you didn't give it to anyone else and you were the only one that suffered, great. Go fuck yourself. But by not abiding by the recommendations, the guidelines, actually in the words of Dr. Fauci, by allowing yourself to get infected or not caring if you do get infected, you are propagating a pandemic. It doesn't end with you. The chances are you're going to infect someone else who will then infect someone else and then someone who's vulnerable will get infected. That could be someone's father, mother or grandchild. It could be a sick child who's immunodeficient. The numbers that we talk about every day aren't just numbers, those are people. Go tell the family who's lost someone because of COVID-19. Ah, the death rate, it's not that crazy because that's who I care about. I don't give a damn about these influencers. I care about the other people who get affected because of them. Also, Chris Clemens, although a lighthearted and funny channel, has had enough of seeing his fellow influencers disregard the fact that we're in a pandemic. Yesterday, he even tweeted this out as a way to publicly shame influencers who are being bad influences. In response to his tweet, people listed the likes of James Charles, Tana Mojo, Emma Chamberlain, David Dobrik and other members of the vlog squad. It's been interesting seeing how the pandemic has become partisan with many people from the right side of the aisle being against wearing masks. After months of downplaying the virus, Donald Trump finally said that we can help end the pandemic by wearing masks and this was huge when we consider how much influence he has. But as I thought about his influence that he has in getting people to wear masks or not wear masks, I thought about how little influence he has compared to influencers on TikTok and YouTube. Here's a list of some of the highest follower accounts from some of the influencer offenders on our list. James Charles, 20.4 million. Emma Chamberlain, 9.1 million. David Dobrik, 18 million. Tana Mojo, 5.4 million. Jake Paul, 20.1 million. Charlie D'Amelio, 73.7 million. Dixie D'Amelio, 30.8 million. Lil Huddy, 22.2 million. Loray, 12.4 million. There are many more that I haven't even listed but just to put it into perspective, Donald Trump's largest follower account is on Twitter where he has a following of 84.1 million. Now don't get me wrong, Donald Trump is still a terrible influence when it comes to the pandemic and is still denying the science and the data but we're using his following as an example of someone who has a massive amount of influence on people not wearing masks. Meanwhile, the combined follower account of these non-mask wearing, non-social distancing TikTokers and YouTubers listed above is 212.1 million. And yes, some of these influencers are going to have overlap with their following but even if we conservatively said that 50 million of that 212 million followers follow more than one of these influencers, their total influence is still more than double that of Donald Trump on social media. Aside from the influence that these kids have, I was also curious as to why they think they're immune to COVID or don't believe they'll pass it onto the people that they love. On top of that, I think it's important we understand how much influence they have over their followers. Recently, I've been reading a lot of books on the psychology of social influence and conformity. Some of my recent favorites include Under the Influence by Robert Frank, Conformity by Cass Sunstein, Why We Act by Catherine Sanderson, Popular by Mitch Princeton, and Social Physics by Alex Pentland. These books have a lot of psychological answers as to why we're influenced. So with all of these influencers being less than acceptable role models during this pandemic, I thought we could try to answer some questions. In this video, we discussed the psychological impact these influencers have on us, the psychological impact they have on each other and what we can do to be better examples for the people in our lives. I was also really curious as to who has more influence, the influencers or the influence we have on one another. For example, influencers definitely do influence some of our behaviors, but how much is their influence compared to what we do as a way to conform with a group? While researching this video, I found some psychological studies that explain who has more influence, either them or us, but that's a topic for another video. So if you don't wanna miss that video, make sure you subscribe and ring the notification bell because here at the Rewired Soul, we use critical thinking skills to improve our emotional intelligence and overall wellbeing. But in the first segment of this video, I wanted to know if influencers really have any influence over more serious decisions we make like those involving our personal health. On a daily basis, when watching some of my favorite YouTubers like Danny Gonzalez, Curtis Connor, Drew Gooden and Leon Lush, they're regularly sponsored. Many of us can either relate to YouTubers we watch or we trust them. So we may buy what they're advertising. For example, since I trust Leon Lush, I may buy some Raycon wireless earbuds if I need them. If I ever want to watch Netflix in another country, I might use Danny Gonzalez's link for ExpressVPN. And since Drew Gooden is a vegetarian like I am, maybe someday I'll try HelloFresh. I've also discussed this with my girlfriend because like many others, she watches beauty influencers. Although she watches beauty YouTubers of all types, I've asked her how much she's influenced by the makeup that these YouTubers recommend when she's making her purchases. And what she said really makes sense. For makeup, she needs YouTubers with a similar skin type as her. So it makes sense to see how it looks on them before she makes a purchase. But what about when it comes to decisions that can impact our health? Sure, it's no big deal if we buy some makeup or use a VPN service, but would we really take health advice from an influencer? For example, when we see influencers at large gatherings and not wearing masks, would that really influence us? Currently, there isn't much data around this topic when it comes to how people are influenced during the pandemic, but we do have another health example that we can pull from. Many influencers from Trisha Paytas to the Kardashians have promoted flat tummy teas and appetite suppressant lollipops. If you remember, the Taty and James drama began because he promoted vitamins for anxiety. These are clear, very real examples of influencers having an influence on health decisions that people are making. So much so that actress and advocate Jamila Jamil was the driving force in getting Instagram to change its policies on promoting diet products. There is clear evidence out there that many of these diet products can be harmful and those like Jamil discuss how it promotes weight loss culture, but why do people trust these influencers? I believe it's for the same reason I was able to get sober, which was a common saying. If you want what they have, do what they do. When people see others with what they deem the ideal body type, they figure that if they want what they have, they need to do what the influencer is doing. The major difference between using this method in sobriety and when it comes to trying to reach body image goals is that you're not seeing everything. People often forget that the Kardashians in Trisha Paytas also have access to many other resources that the average person doesn't. Many of these celebrities promote these diet products, but they also have multiple cosmetic procedures from Botox to LipoSection to Butting Plants. On top of that, they also have access to the best fitness trainers, dietitianists and nutritionists in the world. Critical thinking involves realizing that one piece isn't as much information as the sum of all of its parts. So when you see an influencer promoting a diet product, you need to ask yourself, what other factors may contribute to their physical appearance? This is what we're talking about when we discuss good science. A skeptical critical thinker will consider the additional resources these wealthy people have as well as other factors such as good genetics. So now that we know that influencers can in fact influence decisions we make about our own health, it's time to figure out how much influencers actually influence their audiences when it comes to subjects like social distancing and wearing masks. We're also going to have to see how influencers influence each other if we want to come up with some viable solutions. First, we need to understand why these young influencers think they're immune to COVID-19. There are both biological as well as experiential factors that make young people think they're invincible. This is important to understand since these TikTokers and YouTube influencers also have young audiences who also believe that they're invincible. The primary biological factor is a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex of our brain is what separates us from other animals and has brought us to the top of the food chain. It has a variety of responsibilities from emotional regulation to self-awareness. But one of its other jobs is fear modulation. Fear modulation is our capability to know what we should be afraid of which is something many young people don't have the strong ability to do yet. The prefrontal cortex of the brain doesn't fully develop until our mid to late 20s. And some studies even say that most men don't fully develop their prefrontal cortex until their early 30s. So due to a brain that's not yet fully matured, young people are more likely to have blind optimism that they won't catch COVID-19. And they also believe that even if they do get it, they'll be fine. Now, if you're like me, you're probably saying, but it isn't just about them. It's about the other people they may infect their parents or grandparents. Well, this is where experiential factors come in. One of the ways we learn is through experiences. And when you're young, you don't have many experiences to pull from. Using myself as an example, by the time I was the age of people like James Charles or Charlie D'Amelio, I hadn't experienced much death. I had a grandmother who I wasn't close to die when I was really young. And I also had two high school friends die at very young ages. Even with these experiences, they seemed like freak instances rather than something to actually worry about. As I got older, I started experiencing a lot more death. The biggest wake-up call to me was when I was working at a rehab for three years. During those three years, I had over 70 people die and many of them were my age or younger. Not only that, but when asked if they'd lost someone, more than 90% of my clients would raise their hands. Unfortunately, many of us don't have a healthy fear until it happens to us or people close to us. This is one of my main concerns with COVID-19. People like these TikTokers and YouTubers believe that since it hasn't happened to them or anyone close to them, it's nothing that they need to worry about. This is what's called the optimism bias and it's a dangerous way to live. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Most people look at their anxiety as a curse, but personally, I've learned that my anxiety is a blessing because it makes me ensure that I always wear a mask and social distance. Now, let's discuss how much influence these TikTokers and YouTubers have over their audiences. In a peer-reviewed study titled An Examination of the Celebrity Endorsements and Online Consumer Reviews Influence Female Consumer Shopping Behavior, the authors state, most studies on celebrity endorsers have explored how credibility of the source affects the success of the message. A highly credible source is more persuasive than a less credible source in influencing audience attitudes and behavioral intentions. Ohanian has synthesized the previous literature on this subject and proposed three distinct dimensions of celebrity endorser credibility, expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness. And they also go on to say in their section on the consumer action model, human information processing theory is concerned with how people gather, interpret and use information to make decisions. Information processing theory conceptualizes how people attend to environmental events and code information to be learned related to what they already know, store new knowledge in their memory and retrieve it as needed. Scholars have shown that consumers' choices are shaped by the ways in which humans process information. So influencers have more influence if they meet various criteria such as expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness. If you remember our many discussions on the cognitive bias known as the halo effect, oftentimes we can take something as arbitrary as attractiveness and believe it also makes a person have expertise and trustworthiness. As these TikTok and YouTube stars continue to go out in large gatherings and continue to collaborate all while not wearing masks, they're influencing hundreds of millions of people. Due to the halo effect, people think that since these young, attractive rich kids are able to party and disregard COVID-19 restrictions, they don't need to obey either. And this is extremely scary. While the entire world needs to get on the same page when it comes to wearing masks and social distancing, these influencers have a lot of power. In this final section, we're going to discuss how influencers influence each other and how maybe they can start being positive role models. When we make dumb decisions as kids with our friends and tell our parents we did it because others were doing it, they ask us if we'd jump off a bridge if everyone else was doing it. Although the answer they want is no, we probably would jump off the bridge. In fact, your parents would probably jump off that bridge too if their peers were doing it. Remember all those books I listed at the beginning of this video? In order to sound like we're independent thinkers, we say that we don't follow the crowd, but decades of social psychology has proven otherwise. Our default is to do what others are doing and it takes more cognitive effort to do something else. Aside from the cognitive effort, there are a lot of risks that come along with not doing what everyone else is doing. This all makes a lot more sense from the psychological standpoint when you think of TikTokers and YouTubers as a tribe. When you're part of a tribe, you do what people in the tribe are doing. It could be dangerous to go against the tribe and not conform because what if they kick you out of the tribe? Studies have shown that when you're rejected from a tribe, it triggers the same centers in the brain as emotional pain. A study that's been replicated many times has a person play a computer game with two other people passing a ball. What the participant doesn't know is that the other two people are actually computers. After a while, the computers only pass the ball to each other. Once the participant starts feeling rejected, with brain imaging scans, researchers can see the pain centers light up in the brain. In one study, they actually found that aspirin helped decrease emotional pain when someone was rejected. Social isolation is such torture that there are debates around whether or not solitary confinement in prisons is cruel and unusual punishment. So in the minds of these TikTokers and YouTubers, it's advantageous to do what their peers are doing. And when you think about someone like James Charles, who experienced the intense pain of being canceled last year, he's more likely to conform than anyone in order to avoid experiencing that pain again. So what's the solution? Well, if you remember the famous Solomon Ash conformity study we discussed in a previous video, you know that it only takes one person. If just one person in a group is brave enough to say that something is wrong, others develop the courage as well to speak up. Right now, influencers like Philip DeFranco, Chris Clements and others are being positive influencers on their peers by calling out this type of behavior. But it can only do so much. Although Phil and Chris are both YouTubers, people like Lil Huddy, Hannah Mojo, Charlie D'Amelio and James Charles may not see them as part of their influencer clique. In order to see the best results, we'll need influencers within those circles to start doing what's right. A prime example is the craft YouTuber Nerdy Crafter calling out a fellow creator in the arts and crafts community. But what about Chris Clements and Nerdy Crafter's tweets that were an effort to shame these influencers? Does shaming actually work? In her book, Is Shame Necessary? New Uses for an Old Tool, Professor Jennifer Jackett argues that, yes, shaming is a useful tool for discouraging behaviors that negatively affect the community. But there's a big caveat when it comes to shaming. Yes, shaming can help alter a person or group's behavior, but Jackett outlines effective means of shaming. For example, in her list of seven effective habits for shaming, she says that effective shaming offers a path to redemption. So what this would mean is that if shaming did help get these influencers to social distance and wear masks, we forgive them and not hold it over their head forever. This is actually one of the reasons why cancel culture is considered ineffective because it often doesn't offer the person an opportunity to redeem themselves. Although I do hope that these TikTokers and YouTubers redeem themselves by acting right, I understand why people are so upset. In a recent video, Chris Clemens went on a bit of a rant saying how him and many others like you and I are following the rules by staying inside so we can end this pandemic. Unfortunately, these influencers are being terrible role models, which is one of the many factors as to why we're still in lockdown. I'm personally fortunate enough to have a full-time job where I can work from home, and it also gives me the opportunity to make these YouTube videos in my spare time, but I'm one of the lucky ones. Right now, millions of people are unemployed and millions more don't have health insurance during a global pandemic. Worst of all, people are dying from this virus. Yes, I know that these influencers primarily influence young people, but that's a big deal. This year, my son is supposed to be transitioning from elementary school to middle school. This is a big transition because it's a completely different format, but due to the pandemic, all schooling will be at home for the foreseeable future. I know a lot of kids hate school, but my son loves it, and it's sad that he can't start this new chapter of his life just yet. These influencers have a lot of power, and they could do a lot of good. Imagine if they promoted wearing masks and social distancing to young people. What if they made PSAs, telling young people to tell their parents to wear masks? With the fact that these TikTokers and YouTubers have influenced over hundreds of millions of people, this could make a huge dent in the pandemic. As a wise man once said, with great power comes great responsibility. So, how will you use your power to help in this pandemic? All right, everybody, thank you for making it all the way to the end of this video, and I hope you learned quite a bit about the power and influence that influencers have on their communities, as well as some of the influence that we have on one another. All right, and if you wanna learn more about this stuff, all those books that I mentioned they'll be linked down in the description below. I have found it very helpful because not only does it help me understand what's going on in the world, but when things are happening, when I'm feeling influenced, when I'm going through my own thought processes and things like that, I can step back and think, like, huh, am I conforming? Is this right? Am I practicing critical thinking? Am I being skeptical? And all those other tools. So, if you want to, check out those books. So, remember, like I said, it only takes one person, one person to shift the cards and get people to start doing the right thing. So, hopefully, we'll see this amongst influencers within their own community, but it also starts with you and me, okay? Like, we have to learn how to set boundaries and tell people no and say, hey, no, I don't wanna hang out. Like, I have had to have very stern conversations with some of my best friends in the world and say, no, that's not a good idea. And especially this, especially this. I see them on social media. Like, I have friends who I see going out and about, maskless, constantly. Then they ask me to hang out. It's like, are you serious right now? The other day I asked my friend, I'm like, are you actually COVID-19 in disguise, trying to bait me out? All right, so we have to learn to set boundaries. And listen, I know the setting boundaries can be difficult, especially if you're a people pleaser like I used to be. If you need help with that, give therapy a try. Going through therapy myself has helped me out a lot with setting up personal boundaries. And this is something that I think a lot of people need to learn how to do during the pandemic. So if you need help setting up boundaries and things like that, I recommend using the therapy service that I use, which is better help online therapy. It's always linked down in the description below. That is an affiliate link. So basically what that means is that you get affordable online therapy and a little bit comes back, helps support the channel and you can work with a therapist who can help you through the anxieties of setting up boundaries, worrying about disappointing people and all that other kind of stuff. But before I let you go, I also want to let you know like, if you're not yet, make sure you're subscribed, okay? I have so many ideas and I'm trying to get in a flow of making more videos. I have just lists of new videos. The next video I do will be another one for the series, Supernatural Psychology and then I have like 50 other videos I want to make. But anyways, make sure that you're subscribed because I cover all sorts of stuff and it helps us critically think and you learn some cool things. So what are you waiting for? And tell a friend while you're at it. Share this video with them. Share some other videos. Tell your friends. All right, man, anyways, that's all I got for this video. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And a huge, huge thank you to everybody who supports the channel, whether it be over on Patreon or buying my books from therewiredsoul.com or getting merch from the merch store. You're all awesome, all right? Thanks again for watching. I'll see you next time.