Being Seen, Feeling Spent: Mental Health in the Creator Economy
In 2025, visibility is its own form of labor. Content creators are expected to build personal brands, engage audiences across platforms, and produce content at a pace set by algorithms. When your image becomes central to your livelihood, the line between who you are and what you do starts to blur.
And the toll is showing. A 2024 survey by affiliate marketing platforms Awin and ShareASale found that 73% of content creators experience burnout. Among the top causes: constant platform changes (70%), pressure to stay creatively “on” (55%), and the inability to disconnect from social media (43%). Instagram is the leading source of stress for influencers, followed by TikTok and Facebook.
External pressures add to the strain. Nearly two-thirds of creators said comparing themselves to others worsens their burnout, while 43% pointed to negative comments. It’s a reminder that burnout isn’t just about productivity. According to the American Psychological Association, it’s closely tied to anxiety, depression, and disrupted sleep, making it a serious mental health issue as well.
If mainstream creators are burning out under the weight of nonstop content demands, sex workers and adult creators are doing so while climbing an even steeper hill. Like the mainstream space, they’re expected to have an online presence, but within systems that often work against them.
Platforms like Instagram are essential marketing tools, since adult content is typically paywalled or age-restricted. But unlike their mainstream counterparts, adult creators routinely face shadowbanning, account suspensions, and vague, inconsistently enforced guidelines that threaten both their visibility and their income.
“I have constant anxiety that it will all be deleted,” says adult star Queenie Sateen, who has a following of 268K on Instagram. “The platforms we rely on to help push our business forward are vehemently against the adult industry. I have had my profile deleted twice and have had to spend too much money on resurrecting them. The most stressful part is the fear of losing something I’ve not only put a lot of effort into, but also need to make money.”
Recognizing the wide-ranging pressures faced by adult industry professionals, Pineapple Support, a mental health nonprofit founded by and for adult performers, has partnered with Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, to make sure everyone in the adult space treats their emotional well-being as a priority, not an afterthought.
Prioritizing Wellness with Pineapple Support is a new video series featuring some of the world’s biggest adult stars and aims to destigmatize therapy while highlighting the mental health resources available to sex workers and online content creators.
“In an industry where we give so much of ourselves… taking time to protect our mental health, set boundaries, and care for our bodies and minds is an act of self-love and survival,” says Leya Tanit, Founder and CEO of Pineapple Support, which provides free mental health care for anyone working in the online adult sector.
The series features candid interviews with performers like Kazumi, Lily Lou, Queenie Sateen, Ricky Johnson, and Rhyheim Shabazz as they reflect on what it takes to care for their mental health while working in intimate environments. They open up about separating their on-screen personas from their real lives, building meaningful community, and setting boundaries to protect their emotional well-being.
“Constant visibility means countless people have opinions about you- and not all of them are positive,” says adult star and Pornhub brand ambassador Ricky Johnson. “Some fans overlook the emotional toll this takes. I’ve seen performers get thousands of compliments- fans saying ‘you’re so beautiful’- and then five people say something cruel, and those five comments are what stick. I’ve seen brutal comments about me, too. At the end of the day, it’s about loving yourself. If you know who you are and love yourself… nothing can get in the way of that.”
For fellow Pornhub brand ambassador Queenie Sateen, the pressure doesn’t just come from people-it’s baked into the platforms themselves. “In my view, algorithms definitely contribute to burnout, which is exactly why I don’t try to play that game anymore,” she says. “I never considered myself an influencer or content creator. I’m an artist and a human being. Nurturing those parts of me-not fixating on my engagement or posting-has helped me avoid what could have become a major source of stress.”
Adult creator Lily Lou sees consent as not only central to the adult industry, but also as a tool for personal check-ins. “Be aware of what consent feels like for you. Does this make you uncomfortable? Am I doing it for the money? Am I just excited but a little nervous? Or am I all in? Be aware of what’s comfortable for you and [don’t] be afraid of speaking your mind about it. Don’t feel like you’re a bother. Do not feel like anybody else’s comfort [supersedes] yours because you are important.”
When your job involves intimacy, scrutiny, and self-presentation, mental health becomes something you have to protect to keep going. That kind of clarity might be exactly what the broader creator economy needs more of. Being visible can grow your platform. Staying well is what sustains it.
