Influencers Under Pressure

Recent tragedies have renewed scrutiny of the pressures facing social-media influencers

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Mumbai: On Thursday, a popular Instagram influencer Rohini Paradhye, 25, ended her life following uneasiness over some dispute. She was known as a reel star in her home town Solapur.

Rohini’s suicide shocked the social media influencers as her case was a repetition of a similar case that took place in Jalgaon two years ago. An influencer Vicky Patil had reportedly ended his life over family dispute.

These are not the isolated cases. In February, Reshma, a 24-year-old content creator known to her followers as Chinnu Pappu, was found dead in her rented apartment in Kerala. Together, the incidents have reignited concerns about the mental-health consequences of an economy built on visibility, validation and relentless public scrutiny.

Emotional Pressures

For many influencers, social media is not merely a platform but a livelihood. Yet the same medium that offers fame and financial rewards can also expose its stars to criticism on an industrial scale. Dr Anjali Chhabria, a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, argues that influencers face unique emotional pressures because their public image often becomes inseparable from their sense of self.

“Their engagement, relevance and visibility become closely tied to their identity,” she says. “There is immense pressure to constantly perform, remain visible, appear perfect and stay emotionally available online.”

That pressure is intensified by the architecture of social media itself. Algorithms reward attention, novelty and engagement. Audiences quickly move on. The result is a constant demand for fresh content and perpetual relevance.

Dr Kersi Chavda, former president of the Bombay Psychiatric Society, says the economics of influencing can make criticism especially painful. “If you have monetised what you are doing and depend on it for survival, negative reactions become a major issue,” he says.

The need to continually attract followers creates its own anxieties. “Nobody will follow you for a long time if you are boring,” Dr Chavda notes. Influencers are therefore compelled to keep reinventing themselves, often while confronting the uncertainty of public approval. Content that is expected to attract praise may instead provoke hostility, leaving creators questioning their worth.

Not everyone succumbs to the pressure. Pulkit Sharma, a radio jockey and content creator who has faced online mockery over his disability, says experience helped him develop resilience. “In the beginning it affects your mental health,” he says. “But slowly you develop a thick skin.”

Success, he adds, can provide a degree of insulation. “The moment you start achieving success, it doesn't affect that much. If you are true to yourself, others' opinions don't matter.”

Mental-health professionals, however, warn that resilience alone cannot solve a broader cultural problem. Dr Chhabria believes the growing number of such cases reflects a deeper emotional crisis embedded within digital culture. Influencers, she argues, live under a form of permanent observation. Their appearance, relationships, opinions and personal choices are continuously judged by strangers.

“People often see fame, glamour and popularity,” she says. “They do not always see the emotional burden that comes with living under constant public judgment.”

Pursuit of Validation

Another concern is the pursuit of validation. Dr Sheetal Gagrani, psychiatrist and founder of Brush of Hope, says many influencers become trapped in cycles of instant gratification driven by likes, comments and shares. Social-media algorithms, she notes, are designed to maximise engagement, sometimes encouraging emotional dependence on online approval.

Her prescription is simple: moderation. Detaching oneself from the screen and partaking in activities like exercise, gardening, painting or cooking can help people reconnect with identities that exist beyond metrics and algorithms.