A recent survey found that 57% of Gen Z folks want to be social media influencers[1].
I understand the attraction. You can become famous and make a bunch of money. Plus, you can play with cool technology and maybe get some free merchandise.
The table below shows the changes that have occurred over the years in kid’s answers to the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?
| 1900 | Cowboy, Shop Keeper, Soldier, Inventor, Farmer, Railroad Conductor, Blacksmith |
| 1950s | Cowboy, Pilot, Doctor, Nurse, Teacher |
| 1960s | Astronaut, Scientist, Firefighter, Teacher |
| 1970s | Doctor, Police, Teacher, Athlete, Lawyer |
| 1980s | Actor, Musician, Doctor, Lawyer, Firefighter |
| 1990s | Actor, Athlete, Scientist, Video Game Designer |
| 2000s | Video Game Designer, Athlete, Actor, Musician, Doctor, Teacher |
| 2010s | YouTuber, Influencer, Video Game Designer, Scientist, Entrepreneur |
| 2020s | YouTuber, Influencer, Entrepreneur, Environmental Scientist, Engineer |
[1] Influencers have been around forever. Sports and movie stars have been featured in magazine ads for decades. Newspaper op eds sway people’s votes and opinions. Clergy, scouting leaders, parents and peers are all influencers.
Like their influencer predecessors, social media influencers do have an impact. The graph on the left shows the percentage of people who consider a social media influencer’s pitch when they buy stuff. It’s not surprising that companies spend as much on social media advertising as they do on TV advertising.
The graph on the right shows that the business of being a social media influencer is evolving with more and more emphasis being placed on influencers who target very specific segments, e.g., a segment of white, male, senior citizens who are a sucker for offbeat gifts (like me). The graph shows that more and more marketing spend is being directed to influencers who have smaller and smaller but more focused audiences.
Interesting and sad in a way to see that the “giving professions” – doctor, nurse, teacher, police, firefighter – have fallen off the lists recently being replaced by the “digital professions.”
What did I want to be when I grew up? My number one aspiration was the same as most of my male contemporaries in the 1950s – a fighter pilot.
Below is a 5-year-old me with the greatest present ever – a Steve Canyon helmet. Steve Canyon was an Air Force pilot who saved the day routinely. On the comic book cover below, you can see a picture of handsome Steve and, from top to bottom on the side, his love interest, his goofy sidekick, and the villain lady.
If the pilot gig didn’t work out, my next choice would be to be a mad scientist
If you were a young person trying to decide which profession to pick to start your working-for-a-living life, the following bureau of Labor Statistics data on projected growth rates for several jobs might help you decide:
The healing professions are the place to be.
If you still wanted to be a social media influencer, you’d have to face some sobering facts. There are an estimated 10,200,000 social media influencers – you’d have a lot of competition. In contrast there are about 150,000 occupational therapists and only 11,000 wind turbine technicians.
Plus, the average social media influencer makes $35, 000/year. The average nurse practitioner and physician assistant makes more than $100,000/year.
Apparently (and I am not sure why I looked this up) you can be a monk and have one of the professions above. The Benedictines have about 1,300 monks and the order seems to embrace men who want to lead a monastic life and practice a profession.
Being admitted to the abbey requires that you are 18-43, unmarried, a baptized Catholic and a US citizen. Unfortunately, I don’t qualify.
The monks better do something; improve their offering or change their admission requirements. They, and virtually every other Catholic religious institute of men, are experiencing huge decreases in members. A religious institute is a society of people who take public vows and live together in community. The table below shows the decrease in members (monks, priests, etc.) for the top ten Catholic religious institutes from 1970-2015.
The Benedictine requirement that you are not married may be able to take advantage of the significant changes in the composition of US households (1960-2023). See the graph on the left.
When I was growing up there was a stereotype of the family being composed of a dad (male adult breadwinner), a mom (female homemaker), an average of 2.6 kids and a dog (a typical family is featured on the right). In 1960, that was the makeup of 44% of households. Now it is 18%. An amazing shift.
[1] The current average is 1.9 kids per family. Niger has the highest average – 6.8 kids/family. Hong Kong and South Korea are the lowest – 0.8 kids/family.