Perfect Is The New Black
Every now and then, something comes about that elevates our experience with social media. Making pictures of food cool was one such development as was the selfie. These new ‘inventions’ in a way, changed the way we interacted with our phones and of course, those we were connected to online. Lately, I’ve noticed a new trend, that is less about social media dictating how we behave, than about us telling the world that we are now entering a new sphere of representation.
The change I’m referring to is that of beauty apps. Apps that get rid of pimples, smoothen out your skin, make you thinner, taller, whiter, leaner and eventually into someone completely different. The more we try to convince ourselves that social media is expanding our view of the world and our ability to move within it, it somehow seems to become more and more inward facing.
A lot of celebrities have been called out for botched Photoshop jobs and for unrealistic representations of beauty. We applaud governments for banning too-skinny models and personalities who refuse to be photoshopped on magazine covers, but what is going on at home? Not only are we more obsessed than ever about posting pictures of ourselves, but now we want to produce the most perfect version of ourselves as well. We are slimming and smoothening our faces and bodies so dramatically, that sometimes, I wonder who we are doing this for. Is it for people we’ve never met? Because everyone you meet in real life, knows exactly what you look like (until FaceTune introduces a real-time program of course).
No one likes being photographed from a bad angle, but when did we start equating a digital image with our reality? Whom are we creating this perfect representation for? We’ve now gone from #NoFilter to three filters, a few physical modifications and a touch of Kira Kira. This isn’t me judging those who want to present this image, but I wonder what the impetus behind this can be. Are we so disconnected with the way we look that we start believing what Instagram is showing us?
This also lends itself to the fact that social media has become incredibly good at disassociating us from reality and those around us. Young adults are spending more time of their phones than ever, avoiding real human interaction. I spoke to a 47-year-old mother of three who told me her kids rarely hang out at the mall, a space most of us grew up in, as they now have no need to meet surreptitiously. They have all the time in the world to DM and message each other, without ever needing to meet in real life. Our basis of reality has shifted from things we see in front of us, to things we see being illuminated on a screen. (However, this argument of social media making us less social and lonelier is easily refuted based on your personality in this article which you may enjoy!)
Another fascinating realization is how much happiness likes and followers bring us. Studies have shown that getting ‘likes’ releases dopamine in the brain, the same way dessert, cocaine and sex do. So perhaps we’re all so hooked on the high, that we don’t care if the face the world loves isn’t really ours. I think many of us still believe social media is bringing the world closer together, when in fact, it’s kind of helping us lead visually enhanced lives in an alternate reality. One which simply has no space for love handles and bad skin.
