Should Fitness Influencers Weigh In On Political Unrest?
I’ve seen it time and time again: The world is falling apart, and fitness influencers are telling me what they ate for breakfast.
The most recent example happened last week, as rioters stormed the US Capitol, threatening our democracy and disgracing our country. My eyes were glued to any screen I could get a hold of to get as much information as possible and to see how everyone was reacting. And, I’ll admit, to doomscroll.
I have two Instagram accounts: One for my friends and personal life and another to grow a following for my group fitness classes. I was curious, so I checked in on what my fitness feed had to say in the heat of the violence.
It shared workout videos. Dry scoops of pre-workout. What they eat in a day. Their favorite new workout set.
To be fair, there were multiple accounts who were sharing information in their Stories, but many of their haphazard acknowledgments of our national crisis were drowned out by the nonsense.
I saw a similar reaction — or lack thereof — during the Black Lives Matter protests this past summer. A smattering of fitness influencers posted a black square on Blackout Tuesday. They promised to “be better.” They said they were “listening and learning.” What a week that was, right?
