Well, Bonnie Blue (the adult content creator popular on OnlyFans) has finally done it. No, I’m not talking about another revolting sexual stunt to beat her previous record of sleeping with more than 1,000 men in 12 hours. This time she has managed to sound the death knell for “extreme” content creators by achieving universal ick status.
This week, the 27-year-old from Stapleford, Notts, shared the news of her first pregnancy. What would have ordinarily been a happy announcement from any other young expectant mother turned into a typical controversy fest. Blue, whose real name is Tia Billinger, revealed she would be christening her “happy” news with a “golden baby shower” and yes, she said, it was “exactly what you think it is”.
So far, so Blue. But this time it has come with an unwelcome twist for her. At first, the controversial announcement achieved exactly what Blue set out to do, and caused an outcry around the world, with people on both sides of the political spectrum calling for everything from a religious to a social services intervention.
In typical style, Blue received this news with an insouciant shrug, a probably gleeful peek at her bank balance, reassuring Shelagh Fogarty of LBC that she doesn’t see her take on the traditional baby shower as degenerate or sexualising the baby.
Blue has used her pregnancy to plug her content (Bonnie Blue/YouTube)
However, as the adults worked themselves into a lather, something more interesting was happening among the younger generation – and it is their reaction to the news that will be the one she will dread the most. It is not one of shock; it’s more of an eyeroll than an eyeball. For them, she has become the ultimate cringe character – the auntie who always gets plastered at family engagements. For these youngsters, it’s well, just a bit sad.
Jake, 16, summed it up: “There is nothing sexy about someone who is that desperate for attention. Just put it away, love, and go buy some rattles or something with your millions. I just feel sorry for the baby.”
Over the last two years, there has been a noticeable sea change in the second generation that has grown up online. They still watch huge amounts of short-form videos and are big interactive gamers with Roblox and Minecraft still extremely popular, but their interest in the millions of content creators who compete for their attention is significantly waning. For them, there is nothing new, exciting or original in content creation anymore and increasing numbers of teens now view all content creators – and especially the notorious ones – as “try-hard” and “past it”.
Young people are cooling on content creators and social media. This is a generation that is struggling with an incredibly uncertain future and a volatile world, and sees these content creators as out of touch
Cosima Wiltshire, strategist and researcher for UCL
This is a generation who are discovering the delights of an analogue world. The highest status is given to those who have logged off; those who are living in the real world and connecting in real life, are seen as the coolest. And the youthful pity party being thrown for Bonnie Blue right now is likely to cause her far more consternation than any pearl-clutching from their parents.
Amy, 15, explains, “I think the last Euphoria series nailed it. The early series shocked people because it showed some of what Gen Z went through, but the last series was intentionally pathetic. It showed them now as adults – content creators all used up from living online and how much it had ruined their generation.”
“That’s the last thing we want. Bonnie Blue is just a sad, old, desperate woman. Everyone, even the boys, are laughing at her.”
The veneer of aspiration is cracking for the future audiences and consumers of content creators. The game seems to be increasingly up for all the online peddlers of shock and controversy. Gen Alpha are increasingly savvy about how algorithms work on them and are hyper-aware that most content creators couldn’t care less about their followers or communities and only really care about making money from them.
Adult content creation in ‘Euphoria’ was depicted as ‘pathetic’, one 15-year-old said (HBO)
Remy, 15, sums it up, explaining: “Andrew Tate is just a weird, ranty loser who will say anything to get attention. My hero is Keanu Reeves, who builds really cool motorcycles, is in cool films, says only positive things and isn’t even really on social media. That’s more where people my age will be looking. Social media is just boring and for old people desperate to stay relevant.”
Could we be witnessing a generation that is self-banning from social media in the absence of any government-forced social media ban? Content creators are reeking of desperation to get noticed, the very thing that is the ultimate embarrassing ick for anyone under 20. The youth have moved on, and they have taken kudos and cool with them.
Cosima Wiltshire, 20, is a strategist and researcher for UCL, Unicef and FlippGen. She is heavily involved in shaping mindful digital policy for the next generation and agrees with the transforming attitudes of young people towards content creators and how they are self-correcting: “Young people are cooling on content creators and social media. This is a generation that is struggling with an incredibly uncertain future and a volatile world, and sees these content creators as out of touch and unobtainable, so are starting to disengage. They are starting to be seen as trend takers, not setters.”
Bonnie Blue might still have the ability to rile up older generations, but seeing the kids look at her like yesterday’s news is going to be catastrophic for her generation of content creators. They rely on outrage and controversy for clicks, because those clicks mean cash. But who wants to tune in to see the plastered auntie living her cringe life? The kids of today and tomorrow are way too busy living their own lives. Offline.
