Downey Jr.: It's nonsense that influencers are the stars of the future

Robert Downey Jr. believes that influencers should not be declared "stars of the future," as content creators and the Hollywood industry become increasingly intertwined in the era of social media.

The Oscar winner recently appeared on the podcast "Conversations for our Daughters," where he compared today's influencers to creatives who truly "want to build something" meaningful.

"It was a time in the late 1970s and early 1980s when, as dangerous as it was, there was a sense that the competition wasn't so great that it wasn't worth trying," Downey Jr. explained.

"Whereas today people can create a celebrity without doing anything but filming themselves on their phones. I don't see that as a negative. I just think the challenge of individuality is much greater now," he added.

"I hope that a larger portion of young people - let's say in America for the sake of local context - will say, 'Yeah, but that's not for me. I want to do something, to make something, to build something, to get educated and have more influence and experiences,' so that what I create is more than some self-aggrandizing influencer content," the "Avengers: Doomsday" star continues.

"When I hear people say, 'Oh, the stars of the future will be influencers,' I think, 'I don't know what kind of world you live in, but I think that's complete nonsense,'" he commented.

As someone who has more than 58 million followers on Instagram alone, Downey Jr. was also asked for his opinion on when influencer content becomes just a novelty and what kind of contribution influencers can make to the lives of their millions of followers.

"My now 13-year-old son got a little caught up in this whole influencer thing and suddenly it was, 'Hey, if you like how I play this video game, would you like to send me a donation?' And really, it's becoming a kind of religion," the "Iron Man" actor said.

"There's something about influencers today that makes them almost evangelical peddlers of the fog of the information age. On the other hand, this is new territory and a kind of wild west, so I don't have a definitive opinion on that. I also know that I've met some of these influencers while promoting movies, and many of them are down-to-earth, accomplished, cool people. And then you have all the accompanying nonsense that always goes with it," he emphasized.

When it comes to his relationship with social media and his huge online audience, Downey Jr. admits that he's "a bit of an eye-shield guy" and tries "not to go too deep into the rabbit holes of the internet" because "he doesn't want to get swallowed up by it."

"People say to me, 'Robert, they love it when you act spontaneous and when they get a glimpse into your life.' And I say, 'Yeah, but then I would have to manufacture that spontaneity for them, and that's nonsense. I prefer things that feel prepared,'" he explained.

Downey Jr. will next appear in Marvel's "Avengers: Doomsday," which hits theaters on December 18.