NYC Influencers

Influencer culture has been around for many years, but has sparked more attention this past year. It has become a trend for influencers to move to New York City once their “careers” have taken off. Influencers have built huge platforms around living a luxurious lifestyle in Upper Manhattan, showcasing unrealistic expectations of the city. Due to the repetitive usage of the city as an aesthetic backdrop, people have started to turn on their favorite influencers, even going as far as saying their content is boring and unrealistic. This has sparked discussion on social media, so we decided to ask New York high schoolers their opinions on the topic. 

As influencers coming to the “Big Apple” continue to rise, this raises the question “What do you think makes up a real influencer?” At Hillcrest High School, 12th grader Angelina Boskovich said, “I think what makes a real New Yorker is being born here and not moving away from some other state, you have to be from here. If you didn’t have to take the Regents and state tests, you can’t call yourself a New Yorker, you’re just a transplant.” 

What makes someone a New York transplant? A transplant is someone who is new to city life and the environment. They will go out of their way to only highlight the aesthetic parts of New York and feed into the city life propaganda. With all these people moving to the rich parts of New York, some people have begun to think they are trying to take over. New York has been dealing with gentrification for many years, and this  problem has only been getting worse. 

When asking our peers, “Do you think influencers are trying to gentrify New York?” 12th grader Fryda Quinonez Ortiz said, “Gentrification is a big thing that’s happening in New York, especially here in Jamaica Ave and you can see all the buildings that are going up and being changed. I understand why they’re doing it cause they’re trying to bring in more people, but the people who are already living here can’t really afford it are struggling since the rent and everything around them is going up. It’s so annoying seeing the influencers coming here trying to act like they grew up here and push out people who were here since the beginning.” Gentrification is the process where the character of an urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in. Over the years the cost of living in New York has continued to rise, while the household income has remained the same.

New Yorkers have been getting very aggravated with these “wannabe” influencers, but the real question is “Are people just tired of influencer culture in general, or is this a NYC specific thing?” 12th grader Laila Elizabeth Jackson said, “I feel like people are getting tired of influencers since they’ve been pushed onto us so much. They take opportunities away from people who actually have the experience and need the job.” While many agreed with this, Andrea Baldeon stated, “I think this is a New York specific thing because people love influencers, they like the drama that comes with them, and they like seeing other people live their dreams.”

As influencers continue to flood New York for content, many longtime residents are left feeling overlooked and pushed aside. The glamorized version of the city they promote often ignores the struggles of real New Yorkers facing rising costs and gentrification. In the end, being a true influencer should mean using your platform to uplift communities—not erase them.