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Social networks have invaded our lives. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat have become windows where everyone can stage. And in this new show society,« influencer » is queen. An envied, fantasized role that makes millions of young people dream. Beauty, style, travel, luxury life: everything seems accessible behind the screen of a smartphone.
But behind this digital dream is a much more complex social reality, especially in countries such as Senegal where young people face massive unemployment and where prospects for the future are often blocked. Influence is not just a trend, it becomes a deformed mirror of society, and sometimes a trap.
From yesterday's modeling to today's influencers
A few years ago, many young girls dreamed of being Models. The podium was seen as a royal path to recognition, success, and perhaps the exit from precariousness.
Today, this podium has moved: it is virtual. Social networks have replaced parades, and the influencer has become the modern figure of female success.
But the logic remains the same: body, beauty highlighted, visibility as exchange currency Each « staged » its identity to obtain a status and « followers » and « Likes ».
In the case of influence, this staging becomes a social capital, sometimes converted into relationships, gifts, or opportunities.
Senegalese youth: between unemployment and visibility mirage
In Senegal, more than half of the population is under 25. Unemployment, especially among young girls, has reached massive proportions. In this context, many see influence – or even a mere appearance on the screen – as a way to exist, to stand out, to hope for social promotion.
For many young girls, the goal is not necessarily to earn a living as influencers – because they know that this is rare – but rather toattract the look. The look of a brand, a producer, or more often a rich and influential man who could « spot ».
The apparition becomes a strategy: in a singer's clip, play in a TV series for a derisory stamp, or pose for a few photos. Whatever the immediate remuneration: the essential is to appear.
This is a direct consequence of insecurity: image serves as a symbolic passport to try to escape a difficult social condition.
Digital visibility becomes a currency of exchange, sometimes a springboard to a relationship of material maintenance, or even a marriage with a easier man.
When appearance becomes a commodity
In this game, body and beauty become capital to invest. To be seen, to be noticed, is to give oneself a chance to « money » His image.
But this self-marketing is risky: it can lead to Targeting, Dependence on the male look, and sometimes on situations of exploitation.
Some trajectories switch to a form of disguised prostitution, where the exhibition on the networks is only a window to attract « Sponsors » ready to finance a lifestyle in exchange for favors.
Digital then becomes An economic exchange system centred on the female body, where the boundary between influence, entertainment and exploitation is tenuous.
From the digital display to the hunting table
But while social networks offer a scene for young girls looking for visibility, they are also a hunting ground for some men.
The latter, often older, socially settled, consider the female exposure as a showcase where to choose a « prey ».
Their logic is that of accumulation: after the beautiful house and the beautiful car, they need a « beautiful girl », young and seductive, as an additional trophy in their hunting table.
Behind likes and private messages, it's not the recognition they're looking for, but theSupplement of impulses and satisfaction of a desire for possession.
This consumeristic report to women, reinforced by the ease of access and anonymity offered by the networks, transforms young influencers into objects of lust and exposes them to unbalanced power relations, where money and social status dictate the rules of the game.
The trap of comparison and illusions
Beyond this emerging strategy, young people remain caught up in the overall network mechanism: permanent comparison. Each scroll confronts luxurious lives, idealized physics, brilliant successes.
This « Social mirror » is misleading: il does not reflect reality, but a filtered and scripted version.
The consequence is a diffuse sense of failure: those who do not meet these standards feel excluded, « failed », while most of these models themselves do not really experience what they display.
A factory of inequality
The influence, presented as accessible to all, actually reproduces inequalities. The successful minority captures most of the profits, while the majority exhausts to remain visible without real economic counterpart.
This logic reproduces on the screen the structure of society: a visible and celebrated elite, an invisible and forgotten mass.
But in Senegal, where there are limited professional prospects, this mechanism takes on a dramatic dimension: It maintains the idea that success depends less on knowledge or work than on the ability to be seen, desired, noticed.
A teller of contemporary society
This phenomenon of influence speaks much of our times. He reveals a society obsessed with appearance, where attention is more valued than knowledge.
It also translates social divides: When the education system and the labour market are no longer able to offer opportunities, young people turn to the digital scene, hoping to find a way out.
But this exit is most often illusory. It weakens self-esteem, exposes to risks of exploitation and diverts more sustainable efforts of personal construction.
The urgent need to rethink models
The phenomenon of influencers is not insignificant: is a major social fact that transforms the dreams, behaviours and identities of Senegalese youth. But behind the fascination, there is a hard reality: influence is rarely a viable occupation, often an illusion, sometimes a trap.
What this phenomenon reveals is less the frivolity of young people than the lack of solid opportunities, the attractiveness of a visibility that forgets the precariousness, and the injustice of a system that pushes girls to « market » their physical lack of alternatives.
Then remains a crucial question: What society do we want to build, if young people find themselves in the illusion of screens and the commodification of their bodies?
