Role models and influence

Q: Why do young people copy public figures? A: Mostly because public figures are visible in a way real mentors often aren't — you can watch someone's whole trajectory unfold online, their habits, their opinions, their style, in a level of detail you'd never get from someone in your actual life. That visibility makes imitation feel achievable, like there's a formula you could just follow. There's also an identity element to it at that age — copying someone successful is a quick way to borrow a sense of who you are before you've properly worked that out yourself. I think it's a normal phase more than a worrying one, as long as it doesn't stay the only source. Q: Should famous people feel responsible for their influence? A: To some degree, yes, simply because influence is real regardless of whether it was invited. If millions of people are watching how you behave and adjusting their own behaviour accordingly, pretending that doesn't carry weight seems disingenuous. That said, I wouldn't hold them to the standard of being role models in every part of their life — that's an unreasonable amount of pressure to put on anyone. I'd draw the line at things they actively promote or endorse; beyond that, expecting constant moral perfection from a public figure feels unrealistic. Q: Has the idea of a role model changed over time? A: Quite a lot, I'd say. It used to mean someone whose whole life you respected — a teacher, a grandparent, someone whose values you'd observed over years. Now it's often narrowed down to admiring one specific trait in someone you've never actually met — their work ethic, their appearance, a single skill — pulled out of the context of the rest of their life. That's a more fragmented, curated version of the idea, and I think it's a bit riskier, because you're modelling yourself on a slice of a person rather than the whole picture. Q: Are traditional role models like parents becoming less influential than online figures? A: Less influential in terms of time and attention, probably, but not necessarily in terms of depth. A child might spend more hours watching content creators than talking to their parents, but the influence that actually shapes character — how you handle failure, how you treat people when no one's watching — still tends to come from the people physically present in someone's life. Online figures shape taste and opinions more than they shape values, I think. So it's less a clean replacement and more a split between two different kinds of influence operating on different levels. Q: Does constant exposure to other people's success create unrealistic pressure? A: Yes, and I think it's worse than it used to be simply because of the volume — you're no longer comparing yourself to a handful of people you know, but to a constantly refreshing feed of other people's best moments. That creates a distorted baseline where ordinary progress starts to feel like falling behind, even when it isn't. I don't think the answer is to avoid seeing other people's achievements altogether, that's not realistic, but being conscious that you're seeing a highlight, not an average day, probably helps more than people give it credit for.