- Iman Pabani is a 15-year-old student at Dwight School London, studying the International Baccalaureate. She wants to pursue a career in investigative journalism and travel around the world. Fortune asked her to interview her peers about why teens increasingly don’t trust—or don’t even read—information from experts, and prefer to get their information from TikTok instead. This is her report.
Every morning for a month, Stella opened her freezer, grabbed two cold spoons, and pressed them under her eyes. The first few seconds always stung, but she didn’t stop. She had seen the trick on TikTok, where influencers promised it would magically remove dark circles in just 30 days.
She followed it religiously, never skipping a single day.
At the end of the month, she looked at her reflection, expecting at least a hint of change. Nothing.
“I actually put in the effort,” laughs the 14-year-old, who lives in London. “I genuinely thought it would work.” But this wasn’t the first time she had trusted an influencer and she feared it wouldn’t be the last. Stella, who asked that her last name not be used for privacy reasons, is one of many Gen Z teenagers who rely on social media for advice, sometimes at the cost of common sense. Fifty-five percent of young people now get their news from social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram rather than traditional news outlets, according to a 2022 study by the Reuters Institute.
Experts are dismissed because they are inconvenient
Gen-Z isn’t just trusting influencers over experts, they’re redefining what “expert” even means. Doctors, journalists, and scientists are dismissed, not because they are wrong, but because they are inconvenient, a straw poll of teens told Fortune. Influencers, on the other hand, are fast, familiar, and on the medium we turn to most: our phones.
It’s not that Gen Z doesn’t believe in experts. Rather, it’s that social media has rewired the way they think about credibility. TikTok influencers are now our “friends.” The algorithm repeats and reinforces what we already believe. And a well-edited, engaging video is much more convincing than a long, complicated explanation from a professional. Credibility today isn’t about expertise but about who tells the most compelling story. This change is slowly reshaping how an entire generation decides what is true and what is not—sometimes with demonstrably negative results.
Stella isn’t the only one who’s fallen for viral advice that turned out to be useless or, worse, harmful. James, 16, had been dealing with acne breakouts on and off for the past few months when he came across a TikTok hack that promised clear skin overnight. The solution? Spot patches from a TikTok shop. They were cheap, and the customer reviews were full of positive comments, including “These changed my life!” and “My skin was clear in three days!” His younger brother had acne too, so he bought a pack for both of them, with high expectations.
Instead, the opposite happened. “It actually made my skin worse, like it seemed irritated, way redder than before,” he said.
Aaron, 17, had a similar experience where, upon seeing an influencer recommending a “magic” acne cream for blackheads, realized he had the same product, sitting in the medicine cabinet at his home in North London. “I thought, well, I already have it, so I might as well try.” But instead of clearing his skin, the blackheads spread. He looked at his face in the mirror, and saw more bumps, more breakouts. The exact opposite of what was supposed to happen.
Both James and Aaron learned the hard way that just because advice is popular online doesn’t mean it’s actually good. Yet, at the time, neither of them questioned it. Why would they? It had thousands of likes. It had to be true.
‘Influencers feel like friends…the more you see them the more you trust them’
One reason Gen Z trusts influencers so much is that they feel like they actually know them. “Influencers feel like friends,” says Millie, a 16-year-old student from Leeds. “The more you see them, the more you trust them, even though they are technically strangers.” Their frequent posting schedule, sometimes 10-plus times a day, makes teenagers feel seen.
Sometimes, trust is based on something even simpler: looks. “I kind of trust people based on how they look,” admits Jake, 17, another student. If an influencer looks the part, they must be legit, right?
Teachers, on the other hand? Total opposite. “With teachers, young people think we’re just here because we’re paid to be,” says Lynn Power, a secondary school teacher in London. “There’s this idea that influencers are ‘genuine’ while experts are just doing their job.”
But trust isn’t just about familiarity, it’s also about repetition.
Algorithms mean no one has to search for experts
Social media algorithms have become so advanced that users no longer need to actively search for experts because the platform automatically curates content that aligns with their interests and preferences. This bias strengthens existing beliefs and makes it increasingly difficult to change minds. Research indicates that these algorithms can interfere with traditional learning strategies by placing engagement over accuracy, shortening attention spans and lessening exposure to varying perspectives, resulting in misperceptions about the world and increasing the spread of misinformation and extreme views (Kellogg Insight, 2023).
Social media creates a loop. “You trust people that have the same view as you because it wouldn’t be your view in the first place if you didn’t trust them,” said Isaiah, 17, a secondary school student from Hackney.
Platforms like Instagram and TikTok provide Gen Z with the instant validation that most teenagers crave. It engages them with familiar and comforting content. The problem is that when the internet keeps showing you the same viewpoint over and over until, at some point, it stops feeling like an opinion and starts feeling like fact. “It shapes how you see the world. If you believe something, it’ll keep showing you proof that you’re right,” said Liam, 15, from South London.
‘We haven’t seen a massive drop in student knowledge, but we have seen a drop in student discussion’
There’s also the simple fact that social media is just…easier. After all, when expert advice is as accessible as a 30-second video, why would anyone like to sit through a long, complicated explanation? “Watching too many Instagram Reels makes me feel bad. I know I should watch long-form content, but I don’t,” said John, another student.
Influencers don’t need to be right—they just need to be interesting. An influencer’s goal isn’t education, it’s engagement. Will Bowry, a secondary school headteacher in North London, said, “Most influencers don’t talk about school subjects, not because they’re boring but because they don’t drive clicks.”
Ultimately, this isn’t just about skin care failing but how Gen Z is learning to trust or check information in a constantly developing world. “We haven’t seen a massive drop in student knowledge, but we have seen a drop in student discussion,” said Bowry. “And without discussion, there’s no deep understanding.”
Back to Stella and her cold spoons, what did she take away from the experience? She admits, “I still watch influencer videos, but now I think twice before trying something. If it sounds too easy, it probably won’t work.”
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
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- Gen Z are demanding more in the workplace. Here’s how we changed our culture for them to thrive
- Gen Zers walk into the workplace with one foot out the door—slandering them won’t solve the future-of-work conundrum
