For most of us, social media has become so ingrained in our daily lives that we just can’t live without it. Our friends, family, fans, and haters all thrown together in a scrollable world we can connect with 24/7. We love it for work, sometimes for play, and sometimes a bit of both. There is however another side to the coin as usual. When your life revolves around ratings and recommendations as it often does online, your world can become rather brittle. The way you see people can change dramatically from seeing them on an emotional level as a person much like yourself to instead being simply a statistic. Many an Instagram influencer has fallen prey to this and when they do, it can be a self-destructive spiral. What amplifies this, even more, is we watch them unravel one day at a time, post by post. [2]
Instagram influencer has a meltdown
This happened to Jessy Taylor back in 2019, an Instagram influencer from Tampa, Florida, who was banned from the platform. Her account had over 113,000 followers until it was blocked, but it was flagged for being reported as spam repeatedly. This shook her to the very core of her being. The entire internet then witnessed the emotional breakdown she had on Youtube in response. Jessy took the incident completely to heart, as she not only made a living online, but her self-worth was closely linked to the admiration she received daily from her online followers. The prospect of working a more common 9-5 job was completely overwhelming to her, as she believed she had nothing to offer in a professional capacity. Having worked as a sex worker, an exotic dancer, and her job previously at McDonald’s, she felt that she just wasn’t qualified for other work. [3]
Read: Influencer Has Passport Seized After Painting Mask On Face Instead Of Wearing One
She appealed to the internet
In her famously tearful Youtube clip, Jessy addressed her followers. “Hi guys, I’m in the middle of editing and my Instagram got deleted.” She was in a state of desperation, saying “I’m trying to get it back, I’m calling everybody I can and I don’t know why it’s not working out for me.” During the outburst, the Instagram influencer confessed, “I’m nothing without my following, I am nothing without my following.” She believed the closing of her account to be the work of internet trolls, saying that “when people try to hate on me or report me I’m literally trying to be a fucking better person.” Jessy appealed to people online, saying “I want to say to everybody that’s reporting me – think twice because you’re ruining my life because I make all of my money online, all of it and I don’t want to lose that.” [1]
Jessy Taylor, Youtube
Instagram influencer says her past life had not been easy
Jessy claimed, “I know people like to see me be down and be like them and the ninety percenters – the people who work 9-5 – that is not me, I am in LA to not be like that.” She said she had worked extremely “hard to get to where I’m at and for that to get taken from me is the worst feeling in the world.” No one knew why her account got flagged, but the Instagram influencer said she couldn’t “work a normal job.” Jessy revealed she had been a “prostitute… I don’t do that anymore because I make all my money online. I don’t want to go back to that life.” She continued, saying “What some of you guys have to realize is I have no skills, I’m twenty-fucking-thousand dollars in debt from college so I can’t even go to college if I wanted to.” [1]
Jessy Taylor, Youtube
Keep Reading: Influencer Picks Up And Licks ‘Jellyfish’, Not Realizing It’s A Deadly Portuguese Man o’ War
Sources:
- “STOP REPORTING MY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT.” Jessy Taylor. April 5, 2019
- “Blogger Cries Over Prospect Of 9-5 Job After Instagram Account Is Deleted.” LAD Bible April 10, 2019
- “Instagram star is filmed sobbing over the prospect of a 9-5 job and insists she ‘isn’t cut out for work’ – after her account boasting 113,000 followers was deleted for being spam.” Daily Mail. April 10, 2019