WELLNESS COMMUNITYWELLNESS IS THE NEW LUXURYBy: Alex Russo

Within this community I have observed a heavy focus on routine. Whether it’s a morning routine, a workout routine, or a self-care routine, these videos stay consistent within this community. The type of wellness community that I observed was primarily showcased through TikTok and Instagram. This is a strong woman-dominated community, as the search for Health and Wellness Influencers showed no men at all. There is a distinction and heavy focus on meals, what they are eating, what you shouldn’t be eating, and what you should be eating are all topics that were brought up very often. This content was mostly presented as a video or an image carousel and the majority had some sort of text written or typed in the content, almost always in white font.WELLNESS COMMUNITY WELLNESS IS THE NEW LUXURYBy: Alex Russo

The debate on whether platforms are neutral or not exists; it should not; algorithms and code create a platform. These then push the consistent content, and what is considered the definition of the search engines, that it is within. For example, what creators and what content is considered health and wellness is all predecided by the algorithm. The Architecture of Digital Authority 01

Algorithms are invisible and go completely unnoticed by the average viewer. This factor allows for the perception of raw, unfiltered, authentic content, which is never the case. Because of this, the creator works overtime to intertwine their personal identity with the content they push to appear as genuine, knowledgeable, and overall embodying the personification of a healthy and perfectly put together person. The Architecture of Digital Authority 02

The Labor of Relatability 03 While appearing perfect and productive, an influencer has to seem relatable, and their lifestyle needs to appear somewhat attainable to the average person. This is often done by speaking about what they know now versus what they didn’t before, and comparing their past to their present. If a viewer doesn’t feel any sort of relatability to the creator, there will be no emotional connection or desire to engage further. The influencer creates this false sense of relatability by sprinkling in bits of imperfection, just enough to keep the viewer, but not too much to where they aren’t percieved as perfect anymore.

The Labor of Relatability 04 Routines are the basis of this community. Whether it is food, fitness, or daily habits, constantly sharing and forming routines is a necessity for the creators in this community. However, this creates labor for the cretors as constantly sharing routines also means constantly creating new and perfected versions of these routines with the perfect aesthetics.

There is a sort of unspoken social contract within this community formed by reciprocality and participatory culture. Creators act as educators and viewers act as students, where there is a feeling of need for spreading knowledge and a sort of pressure for consistency and perfection. Viewers are constantly interacting, affirming, and reciprocating the efforts that are put in by the creators. This pushes them to do more and allows the digital ecosystem and community to thrive. The Social Contract of Wellness 05

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