A 21-year-old university student with 1.6 million TikTok followers has spoken out about the loneliness and abuse that come with viral fame. Hannah Milton, who creates dance videos and comedy sketches from her bedroom in south Wales, said online trolling intensifies when her content gains traction.
Hannah started posting in 2020 to combat lockdown boredom, and her following has since skyrocketed. She also streams live on TikTok for up to eight hours at a time. Despite her passion for content creation, she admitted the hate can be overwhelming. 'A lot of people say it doesn't affect you but I don't believe that,' she said.
Hannah, a digital marketing student at Cardiff Metropolitan University, said her studies and cheerleading help her take breaks from the pressures of social media. She credits her close relationship with her mother for helping her cope with trolling. 'People have the outlook that content creation is an easy job, but it's very draining,' she added.
Abi Butcher, founder of the influencer agency Content Creators, said young influencers are often 'easy to exploit' and advises them to stop if their mental health suffers. Meanwhile, Dr Margarita Panayiotou of Manchester University is researching the mental health impacts of being a social media content creator, a topic she says has been underexplored.
