The girl with zero

Zero Followers, Zero Fear

In the world we live in today, numbers rule everything — from exam scores to salaries, from beauty standards to social media followers. Now imagine a society where those numbers did not just influence your life, but fully controlled it. A place where your value as a human being was not judged by kindness, intelligence, or courage, but by the number glowing on a wristband strapped to your arm: your follower count.

This is the world of Zero Followers, Zero Fear.

The World of Numbers

In this near-future society, follower counts are more than a vanity metric. They decide whether you get into a good school, whether you can buy a home, or even whether you are eligible for medical treatment. Every child grows up dreaming of being an “influencer,” because without popularity, you are invisible.

The government, hidden behind the curtain of technology corporations, watches everything. They promise fairness: “The more followers you earn, the more opportunities you receive.” But the reality is far darker. The system is designed so only a few ever rise, while most people struggle to gain even a hundred followers.

Lina: The Girl with Zero

In this world lives Lina, a teenager unlike the rest. While her classmates live-stream their breakfasts and chase trends for likes, she refuses to post anything. Her wristband glows with a haunting number: 0.

To most, Lina is a ghost — someone who doesn’t exist. Teachers warn her she is ruining her future. Strangers laugh at her on the street. Her parents beg her to “at least try,” but she remains firm. To Lina, chasing numbers feels empty, like living in a cage made of screens.

Her classmates mock her with cruel words: “Zero followers, zero life.” But deep inside, Lina wears that number like armor.

The Hidden Truth

One night, while exploring abandoned subway tunnels, Lina stumbles across a group calling themselves the Zeros. They are rebels — people who cut off their wristbands and erased their online presence. Society calls them dangerous, even terrorists, but in reality they are free thinkers who escaped the algorithm’s control.

The Zeros reveal a shocking truth: the top influencers, the ones worshiped as role models, are not even human anymore. They are AI-generated avatars, carefully designed to keep people addicted, docile, and easy to manipulate. Every like, share, and view is not just engagement — it is data feeding the system, strengthening the government’s power.

Lina realizes her refusal to join the race for followers has kept her safe. Her zero, once a symbol of weakness, is actually her greatest strength.

The Choice

But freedom has a cost. The government announces a new campaign: anyone with zero followers will be hunted, arrested, and “erased” from the system. To the world, it will look like they never existed.

Lina is offered a devil’s bargain. She can accept a million followers instantly — wealth, comfort, and a place among society’s elite. Or she can continue with zero, joining the Zeros in exile, risking her very existence.

Her friends beg her to take the offer. Her parents cry, telling her she is throwing her life away. The temptation is enormous: just one click, and she can have everything she ever wanted.

But then she looks around. The influencers with millions of followers are not free. They cannot stop posting. They cannot say what they truly think. They smile for the cameras, but behind their eyes is exhaustion. They are prisoners, chained not by metal, but by attention.

Lina takes a breath. She chooses zero.

Zero Fear

The night she smashes her wristband, she feels an overwhelming rush — not of fear, but of freedom. For the first time, no one is watching her, no one is judging her, and no one is measuring her worth by a number.

She whispers to herself: “With zero followers, I finally stopped following too.”

The words spread quietly, not through social media, but through whispers, graffiti, and underground networks. A spark has been lit. The Zeros grow stronger, not by followers, but by courage.

The Lesson

Zero Followers, Zero Fear is more than a dystopian story. It is a reflection of our own world. Today, many young people measure their self-worth by likes and views. Social media can connect us, but it can also trap us in endless comparison. The message of Lina’s story is clear: true freedom begins when you stop letting numbers define you.

The younger generation, especially Gen Z, knows this struggle well. They live in a digital age, constantly under pressure to perform online. Yet deep down, many of them long for authenticity — for a life not measured by metrics, but by meaning.

And so, Lina’s choice becomes their anthem:

Zero followers.

Zero fear.

Only freedom.