People can't stop watching videos about rich influencers and creator money. Experts say it could be harmful.

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British TikToker Star Holroyd gave her 705,000 followers an insight into how much money she made by being an influencer between April and June this year.

In the video, which has been viewed 1.2 million times, Holroyd broke down how she earns money as an influencer, and said her total earnings for the quarter were £14,500 (nearly $20,000) before taxes and her manager's fee.

The TikTok was one of Holroyd's most viral hits. 

Despite still being a taboo subject in some industries, for online content creators talking about money can be a surefire way to generate conversation, especially when it comes from within the influencer world, which is still relatively new.

"The influencer industry has a need for reliable, accurate information and so we think people enjoy reading an honest take on what they make, be it $100 a month or $100,000 a month across different social platforms," said Business Insider's Amanda Perelli, who popularized the format of interviewing content creators about their earnings. "We also do a lot of work to fact check the figures creators share with us through verified documentation they provide."

Among YouTube's top influencers, it's common for creators like Jeffree Star to flaunt their money and show off the fruits of their earnings. Star's January video about a $200,000 shopping spree pulled in over 3 million views. Insider spoke to experts to get to the bottom of our fascination with social media stars' money.

According to Joyce Marter, LCPC, a licensed psychotherapist and author of "The Financial Mindset Fix: A Mental Fitness Program for an Abundant Life," the desire to learn about influencers' earnings "fuels dreams of greater financial prosperity and a life of abundance."

Maria Alcantara, who has a degree in psychology and is the founder of personal finance blog and coaching service Millennial Money Queens, told Insider that learning what internet creators and influencers make is particularly alluring because they are generating income in a new, non-traditional way.

"Because their lives look so fun and exciting, it's a recipe for the ultimate charming attraction," she said.

Money also "does a real number on our brain," she said. It stimulates an area of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, which plays a significant role in motivation, aversion, and reward. This means that just thinking and talking about making money leads to high bursts of dopamine, Alcantara said, which is a neurotransmitter that makes us feel good.

In 2015, former vice president of JP Morgan, Kabir Sehgal, wrote in Harvard Business Review that, "nothing excites the brain like money." In a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience in 2007, 12 people were playing a game in which they could win or lose cash, and their brain scans looked similar to addicts who were high on cocaine.

"We very quickly found out that nothing had an effect on people like money — not naked bodies, nor corpses," one of the researchers, Brian Knutson, a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Stanford University, told Sehgal. "It got people riled up. Like food provides motivation for dogs, money provides it for people."

There may also be a downside to binge-watching too much content about money, as it can also be a significant source of stress for a lot of people. 

Marter told Insider comparing ourselves to those who are doing better financially can incite feelings of inadequacy, shame, anger, resentment, and even fear. It can also trigger negative and self-limiting beliefs for people who grew up with financial trauma, such as a parent suddenly losing their job and income.

For some, Marter said, hearing about people achieving great wealth and influence can also trigger anger about wealth disparity.

"It can also fuel anger and resentment about how systemic racism, sexism, discrimination, or marginalization may have impacted somebody's financial life in very different ways than a person of privilege," she said.

We can sometimes forget that most of us only see the successes and achievements of people in the limelight, she said, and not the hard work, failures, and setbacks behind the scenes.

"It is important to maintain perspective and recognize we are only seeing part of the picture and to know that every person and business leader has struggled too," she said.

Research by neuroscientist Sam Barnett, the cofounder of Think Alike Labs, found that financial stress is significantly lessened when someone receives help and guidance. Relaxation and recognition increased by 21% and 29% respectively when a participant was "assisted" in financial scenarios — getting budgeting advice, for example, even if it's seemingly basic.

Financial tidbits from internet creators are not only intriguing but could be truly helpful for people who stress over their money troubles. Learning about an alternative to the long-established, orthodox 9-5 way of earning a living, is pretty addictive in itself, according to Alcantara.

"It casts a spell on us and we can't help but want to know, learn, and hear more about it," she said

For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.

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