NPR:

The world of influencing is pretty simple.

Companies from the likes of Airbnb to Amazon to Louis Vuitton pay people with a lot of followers on social media to promote their products. These creators then make content, typically videos, where they recommend the products and services, often adding a discount code their followers can use to sweeten the deal.

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It has evolved over time and can now include things like the “come shopping with me” trend that emulates the feeling of casually shopping with a friend. The influencers film themselves walking around stores and filling their carts with clothing, makeup, cute little bowls for your ramen noodles and, of course, Stanley cups.

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De-influencing encourages people to buy less stuff and instead use what they already have.

I did not expect to share two articles related to sustainability today, but here we are.

In what I’d chalk up as another moment in the win column for Gen-Z, The Kids® are pushing up against the last few years of influencer culture, and saying, “Hey, wait, why do we need all of this crap?”

As someone who has been looking around his house and considered purging quite a bit, it’s a concept that I can absolutely agree with. Ironic, given how much of my last day job involved influencers.

I think the next generation is putting a strong focus on being genuine, real, and considerate, and rejection of capitalistic norms like these is just another example of it.

Now, how much this eventually effects our economy and relationship with countries that produce all of this junk…that’s for someone much smarter than me to consider. In the meantime: I breathe a sigh of relief that some people are still considering more than themselves.