Opinions and Reviews

Fame Is It Really Worth It?

The Reality of Having an Online Presence

Sophie Rodgers, Contributor • September 20, 2023

Everyone wants to be famous. Of course you’d want to be famous when you make money and people admire you. However, fame does a lot to a person psychologically. It makes people view-obsessed, to the point where that’s all they think about and will do anything for those views.

Many women today will be seen on Instagram or TikTok showing off their bodies, which gets them ‘interaction’, but also violates their privacy in so many ways. These photos and videos can be classified as “intimate” or “private”.

Sometimes, fame can alter your personality and the way you act. It may even lead people into depression and can cause suicidal thoughts. I believe the internet can be used for good, but it can also be used for so much harm. Let’s take the family YouTube channel Cam&Fam for example. They were a regular family channel who would post cute family updates and just record their day to day lives. The family took a break from social media due to some mental health related issues, and the following video featured the wife of Landon Clifford explaining how Landon had taken his own life. Wife Cameron Clifford explained the incident was caused due to drug abuse and a very deep and dark depression.

As stated earlier, having an online presence can be very harmful to your self esteem and mental health. People online tend to over share, and even lie to their viewers. An example of that is the former YouTube family channel 8 Passengers. At first, they seemed to just be a normal family channel who would post their daily lives, until fans started to spot some red flags. Fans took notice of the mom, Ruby Frake, oversharing aspects in her kids’ lives. Just one example is when Ruby filmed herself saying things such as “If you don’t stop I will be taking away your food privileges.” Ruby Franke was arrested in August of 2023 for aggravated child abuse.

Story continues below advertisement

Many influencers abuse their power and fame and use it for bad rather than good. My example of this is Colleen Ballinger, who has had numerous former fans come out claiming she had groomed them and messaged them inappropriately while they were minors. I think fame does more bad than good to a person mentally. While there are good aspects about being famous, if you want to be famous, you need to be aware of the reality of an online presence.

Donate to GHS Stampede

Your donation will support the student journalists of Graham High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

About the Contributor

Sophie Rodgers, Editor

Sophie Rodgers is a seventeen- year- old junior in high school. She is an editor for the Steer Stampede and enjoys her quiet time. She keeps a small, close circle of friends who she spends most of her time with if she isn’t working at Scooters Coffee. Sophie is a part of the RSB3 where she plays the flute and was in the Varsity group, top of her section by the time she was a freshman; she is also a section leader. She considers herself to be a high achiever and cares very much about her grades; she stresses over any grade that’s under a 90. Sophie overthinks pretty much everything. She picks out small details and stresses if it doesn’t all go the way she expects it to. You would often find Sophie by herself in her bedroom watching her favorite shows or reading her favorite books. Her favorite shows include Jane The Virgin, All American, and The Summer I Turned Pretty. Sophie’s favorite books are: The Diary Of Anne Frank, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and It’s Not Summer Without You. One thing about Sophie is that she gets annoyed pretty easily, but most of the time you won’t be able to tell that she is even frustrated. Her biggest pet peeve is people who eat loud/ chew with their mouth open.Sophie is one of seven kids so she gets called the wrong name often, mostly by her parents. While she enjoys living in America, she prefers living overseas. When she is older, Sophie would like to go back to China where she lived for the majority of her life before coming to Graham (12 years).