Social Media Selves: Essena O’Neill and ‘Instafame’
“I had all the attention I had ever dreamed of and more. And … I had never been more miserable in my life.” These were the words of Essena O’Neill, 18 year-old Australian online influencer at the time of her quitting social media.
To backtrack very quickly through Essena’s social media journey, she joined Instagram as a teenager in the wake of a social media revolution. Her photos helped her rise to fame in a matter of no time, bringing her over half a million Instagram followers. Before she knew it her teenage years had been spent on social media, crafting a career in modelling and promoting sponsored content. Then, on October 27th 2015, O’Neill deleted nearly 2000 pictures off of her Instagram account and announced she would be quitting the contrived life of social media.
By now it is not surprising knowledge that social media networks are often used as spaces where individuals can project themselves in a manner different than the way in which they act in real life. Professor Amy Buckman, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, once referred to online communities as ‘identity workshops’ where individuals test out and switch between different self constructs. Founded under the pretenses of ‘re-connecting’ and ‘communicating’, social media has rapidly moved on to embody and deeply re-instill societal generalizations, norms, and standards. Today, youth all over the world understand and can maneuver this social media “game” like the backs of their hands. Ask almost any thirteen-year old girl and she will be able to tell you the dos and don’ts of the online world as it exists today.
Since its founding in 2010, Instagram quickly climbed to the top of the social media game as a largely visual platform for sharing aesthetically pleasing, well-filtered photos with a network of friends and strangers alike. Instagram has grown so much so that it now challenges conventional advertising methods. Brands are beginning to realize that their money is as well spent on a fashion blogger on Instagram than on a hundred thousand dollar billboard in Times Square, New York. Earlier this year, Danielle Bernstein, a style blogger who runs the wildly popular website ‘We Wore What’ did an exclusive feature with Harper’s Bazaar giving them the inside scoop on sponsored content and social media. The piece reveals that brands spend anywhere near $1 billion on sponsored Instagram content in just one year. Bernstein goes on to reveal that she can earn anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 for a sponsored post depending on the terms of the contract. The blogging wonder nonchalantly added that once she crossed 1 million followers on Instagram (she had 992,000 at the time), she would easily be able to hike up the fee she charges brands.
As Instagram grew in fame, so did Essena O’Neill. Her carefully crafted photos gained hundreds, upon thousands of likes, eventually leading into a modelling contract with IMG Models, one of the largest modelling agencies in Australia. IMG Sydney’s talent page lists wildly popular models Miranda Kerr and Rosie Huntington-Whitely, as well as tennis superstar Maria Sharapova as current clients. Essena O’Neill had made a career out of social media and was raking in all the monetary benefits possible. In late October, Essena took to Instagram to delete almost all of her photos leaving up only 96. She re-captioned these 96 pictures with lengthy paragraphs about the truth behind each image.
“A 15 year old girl that calorie restricts and excessively exercises is not goals. Anyone addicted to social media fame like I once was, is not in a conscious state,” read one caption.
“and yet another photo taken purely to promote my 16 year old body. This was my whole identity. That was so limiting. Made me incredibly insecure. You have no idea.” read another.
Many of these captions detailed her struggles with body image and unhealthy dietary habits, not to mention low self-esteem and the pressure to portray herself as a sexual being even at the young age of 15.
It is not a clear what exactly triggered her final outburst and eventual departure from social media, but in the posts and videos following her announcement O’Neill mentions that she had been riddled with anxiety and depression pertaining the matter in the past. Although O’Neill initially left her Instagram and YouTube channel up for viewing, she eventually deleted both. Currently, O’Neill can only be found on Google+ and on her new website www.letsbegamechangers.com. On this website, O’Neill continues to share behind-the-scenes type commentary on her previous life, while also re-focusing herself and promoting healthier ways of living and being such as veganism (of which she has always been an advocate) and wholesome daily rituals.
O’Neill was not alone in her quest to quit social media. The author of Instagram account ‘Sociality Barbie’, Darby Cisneros, announced herself shortly after Essena quit the platform. Using an actual Barbie doll staged in different scenes, Sociality Barbie started as a way of mocking accounts and individuals that portrayed their apparently ‘perfect’ and obviously contrived lives. In addition to explaining her reasons for starting the account, Cisneros stated that it opened a window for great conversations “like: how we choose to present ourselves online, the insane lengths many of us go to to create the perfect Instagram life, and calling into question our authenticity and motives.” Seemingly moved by Essena’s announcement, Cisneros declared her work as Sociality Barbie was complete and that she would no longer be operating the account. Thus, the Sociality Barbie quit the Internet.
Dozen of other models and influencers followed suite by re-captioning and reposting their old Instagram posts with the truth behind each image. Some posted makeup free and unedited selfies, while others flatly revealed the number of retakes and the level of photoshop that went into some of their pictures.
While some lauded O’Neill’s action and efforts as revolutionary, going on to commend her for being wise beyond her years at only 18 years old, she also faced an inevitable backlash. O’Neill had percolated into crowd of ‘instafamous’ teens and made many friends in the network. Two of these friends were identical twins Nina and Randa Nelson. The twins uploaded a video critiquing O’Neill’s actions bit by bit. The singer/songwriter duo, who have over 200,000 YouTube subscribers, added snippets of Essena’s emotional breakdown along with their own commentary to a video titled ‘ESSENA O’NEILL Quitting Social Media Is A HOAX”. The twins’ were not alone in their opinions about Essena O’Neill, with many agreeing that she had exaggerated and moulded the story to seem more dramatic. Others rejected her claims of ‘quitting social media’ by saying that she couldn’t have been serious seeing as she was using the very same platform she allegedly hated to share her renewed attitude towards it.
FLARE magazine approached Canadian-based Youtuber/Blogger Sylvia Ta (or BeautyCakez) for her take on the latest trend in exposing social media ‘stars’. Ta stands in somewhat of a middle ground where O’Neill is concerned. While Ta agrees that being a social media influencer can create a tremendous amount of pressure to look, and act a certain way, she pointed out that one has to be thick skinned to thrive in a social media environment. She added that gaining validation through ‘likes’ is a process that can dominate your life. In the past, she has received numerous messages and observed a number of young girls going down this dangerous path of basing their self-worth off of what others say. Ta makes sure to note that she has established a line for herself between personal life and life on social media, which is a business in itself and a space in which she conducts her work. While the BeautyCakez blogger does in fact agree with Essena O’Neill on many fronts, she does simultaneously mention that it seems a little absurd for O’Neill to be so bashful of the Instagram ‘lifestyle’ while simultaneously promoting her new website (which falls in the same category of self-promotional social media). When asked if she thinks this entire outburst is a publicity stunt to gain even more followers on her new platform, Ta agrees with “Yes.” To her, O’Neill isn’t so much quitting Instagram/social media as she is taking it on with a new approach.
Another blogger, Laura Hincapie, who runs ‘Estilo Lau’ and studies at University of Toronto Mississauga also took time to share her opinions on the matter on her fashion and style blog. Hincapie takes the matter with a pinch of salt. While she agrees that the inherent nature of social media is contrived and fleeting, she sees Essina O’Neill’s plight as a renewed and positive wave in social media. As she reflects on the matter, Hincapie hopes that O’Neill’s exposé will help promote higher self-esteem and an environment of self love amongst young women.
Whether a publicity stunt or a genuine effort to destroy the norm among social media celebrities, and whether applauded or attacked, Essena O’Neill has stirred conversation about social media in an area that has largely been overlooked or unspoken about until now. Amelia Diamond, writer for the Man Repeller documented her thoughts in a more candid sense than the usual formal journalistic style, as do all writers at Man Repeller. When she stumbled upon Essena O’Neill, ‘the new phenomenon’, her instant response was that most of what Essena was saying was plain and simple, obvious. After some consideration, she realized that while it might be obvious to an industry insider like herself, to an 8, 10, or 13-year old, the same might not be apparent. Here in lies the utility and significance of O’Neill’s message. While most of her message might be common sense to anyone who has made it past their teen years, it might be a revelation to someone starting out on Instagram as young as Essena herself did. The common sense characteristic of her message, after all, is learned knowledge that all other bloggers, YouTubers, influencers etc., learned over the course of their experiences in the public eye. The truth of the matter is that this incident has opened up the doors for a much larger conversation pertaining to the unspoken rules, and standards held by society for youth all over the world. Be it men, or women, or trans people, or children, each group of society is held to a different standard, the impact of which only gets intensified behind a digital screen.
