In the last decade, social media has seen a spike in users, with young adults spending more than twice as much time on social media than the rest of the population, according to Yahoo Finance. This has opened up new career paths and opportunities for people around the globe. The rise of social media has led to many young people pursuing influencing with the idea that it’s a simple career that does not require an academic background, and can make a lot of money. The rise in social media usage has been expanding due to apps such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube increasing content production.
These apps have allowed people to experiment with content creation as a career, posting on social media and building large followings that attract people from all over the world. Influencers can earn money through advertising revenue and endorsement by the platform itself, which is an appealing idea to some young people who do not want to take the traditional education pathway.
Several students at San Marin have attempted to use social media to make money by using their hobbies for content, including freshman Kyle McClure, who has been able to attract a large following by posting his remote control planes. McClure has been able to manage his social media as well as his grades but does not believe that influencing requires good academic performance.
“I believe that grades are completely irrelevant when it comes to influencing,” McClure said.
Another student who has been able to take a hobby to the next level is sophomore Peyton Chamberlain, who has reached a following of 324.6 thousand on TikTok and over eight thousand on Instagram.
“In my opinion, influencing starts as a hobby and can turn into a job. It’s more up to the influencer which path they want to take and how far they want to take it,” Chamberlain said.
Due to Chamberlain’s large following, several companies have reached out to her in regards to sponsoring her and wanting advertisement deals.
“I have not been able to make any ad deals yet but am in contact with several brands. I often get a lot of companies messaging me on Instagram hoping for me to collaborate with them and post content on my page to help their company grow,” Chamberlain said.
Teachers have seen the rise of social media use and its effect on students. English teacher Ryan Berberian, who has been at San Marin since 2001, has observed students attempting to make a career out of social media.
“It’s a new career path that didn’t exist when I started teaching. It’s one of those things that seems to be unique in a sense as only a very small percentage of people are gonna be able to find success if that’s the career path they choose,” Berberian said.
Berberian also expresses how he thinks students might feel about their education in regards to a content creation pathway, and the necessity of school if they want to succeed.
“If somebody really felt like that’s something that they want to do, they might feel like school wasn’t necessarily important to achieve that career and so maybe they don’t feel like they’re motivated to go to college because of that,” Berberian said.
With the rise of social media, new career opportunities have opened up that allow young teens to find new passions and show off their hobbies. Yet as more students use social media, the urge to participate in school and pursue education has tended to decline.
