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Help Me Understand, Vol. 2: Influencers

Help teach an old philosopher new tricks

Douglas Giles, PhD
3 min readMay 28, 2024
(Source: Piqsels)

Volume 2 of my new series on Medium: “Help Me Understand.” I am quite sincere. There are a number of things that I don’t understand, and I would appreciate people explaining them to me. I have a list. It’s growing. But if I can start some conversations and receive the experience and wisdom of other people, I’d appreciate it.

Volume 1 was on poetry, and it generated some good, helpful responses.

Next up on my list of things I don’t understand is social media influencers. Yes, those people who stick their faces in front of their phones and talk about fluffy stuff on social media platforms. Why have influencers become so popular and such a prominent part of society?

The influencers talk about stuff like makeup, fashion, exercise, food, travel, and the like. Except, it seems to me, these influencers aren’t actually talking about makeup, fashion, exercise, food, or travel as much as they are talking about themselves. The phone on the end of the selfie stick is always pointed…

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Douglas Giles, PhD
Douglas Giles, PhD

Written by Douglas Giles, PhD

Philosopher by trade & temperament, professor for 21 years, bringing philosophy out of its ivory tower and into everyday life. https://dgilesauthor.com/

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