Why does everyone want to be some kind of social media guru?

Life coaches seem to be a dime a dozen online. Our columnist, however, believes that we're better off reading biographies of people who have survived incredible ordeals, or about people who have built things bigger than themselves if we want to get life advice or be inspired. — 123rf.com

OK, this might firmly be old man yelling at the clouds time but I’m tired of social media influencers telling me how to live. Maybe it’s just my sickly algorithm because of what I usually read, but I’m constantly bombarded by people writing about what they’ve learned in life and passing it on via social media, or some YouTube ad where some guy shouts “Don’t buy another stock!” before I press the skip button.

Why does everyone want to be some kind of social media guru?

I know the easy answer. For the followers, clicks or views. Or whatever counts as digital validation these days. But the funniest part about some of these account holders is when I keep seeing them giving sage advice, talking about their life experiences, and then one day I see them announcing they just turned 28 years old! Hurray! A lifetime of wisdom!

This shocks me on so many levels. First, that they would announce how young they are while trying to build a guru-life-coach account online to snag followers. Being young doesn’t mean your experiences don’t count, but it definitely means you haven’t had nearly as many as someone older than you, so you would think you don’t want to advertise that. But this hints at something else I see with these wannabe life coaches: They lack self-awareness.

A complete lack of self-awareness is the only way you could even begin to think you should go online and give people advice about how to live their lives. To be fair, a lack of self-awareness is what leads to a lot of people’s successes. When I was a TV host I interviewed a lot of CEOs and artists who all said if they had realised how badly they could have failed, they wouldn’t have started.

But I’d say taking chances with your own business or your art is a different thing from deciding to start giving people potentially terrible life advice. With your own endeavour, maybe you fail, but you still learn – making a business out of giving people advice means if you fail, someone else does too. Isn’t that a huge responsibility?

I’m not sure that crosses a lot of people’s minds when they start these guru channels. When I see one of these “gurus” talking about “13 things I learned on my 13th birthday” or whatever, all I see is the unbridled hubris of someone who wants sycophants.

Sycophants is a fancy way to say followers who idolise someone. And people starting a guru account want to be idolised by randos on the Internet because of some deep gaping hole inside them. This is known for certain. When you follow some guru online, they’re not giving you what you need, you’re giving them the adoration and validation they need.

The saddest thing is, those most likely to fall for a guru’s message are those most in need. The people the most lost, looking for something to attach themselves to, some kind of community to belong to, are at the most vulnerable for falling for one of these selfstyled life coaches.

You might say, what’s the harm?

The harm is being advised by someone who isn’t qualified, has dubious world views, and is really just filling their own needs. At best you get some bad advice, at worst you could get taken for your hard-earned cash.

I’ve seen influencer channels on YouTube of people selling “rock energy” classes for tens of thousands of dollars. Talk about adding value to nothing. These influencers pass on their wonky beliefs and get paid to do it, and their followers are out a bunch of money and are now walking around believing they can grab people’s energy using pebbles.

Personally, if you want to get life advice or be inspired, read biographies of people who have survived incredible ordeals, or about people who have built things bigger than themselves. There is inspiration to be had there, and the message is likely that hard work will pay off.

And always remember this quote by William J. Bernstein: “The reason that ‘guru’ is such a popular word is because ‘charlatan’ is so hard to spell.”

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Big Smile, No Teeth columnist Jason Godfrey – a model who once was told to give the camera a ‘big smile, no teeth’ – has worked internationally for two decades in fashion and continues to work in dramas, documentaries, and lifestyle programming. Write to him at [e-mail] and follow him on Instagram @bigsmilenoteeth and facebook.com/bigsmilenoteeth. The views expressed here are entirely the writer's own.