Bad Influence

A smart, humorous and candid account of coming of age on the internet, from the much-loved online personality Oenone Forbat.

***'***I have spent most of my adult life online, so much so that it can be hard to know which parts of me are the 'real' me and which parts I have subconsciously edited, facetuned and perhaps exaggerated, to suit being so hyper-visible'

Oenone didn't set out to become an influencer. The word barely existed when she started posting on Instagram at university to document her 'fitness journey' after a toxic relationship came to a messy end.

In this humorous meditation on her digitized life, Oenone chronicles the pits and peaks of coming of age online. Grappling with modern-day issues on a public stage - from body image and personal boundaries to the limitations of online activism, Bad Influence examines what happens when your day-to-day reality becomes #content - and that #content pays your bills.

It asks: can you truly be authentic online? Can social media be a force for good? Is it necessarily bad for our mental health?

Written and narrated with wit, warmth and honesty, this is a candid account of what it really means to be an influencer, from someone still figuring it out: the good, the bad and the instagrammable.

(P)2023 Quercus Editions Limited