Is What You Are Seeing R E A L?

 Filtered

Pov: you compare yourself to the glossed out world of social media.

⚡️ask yourself:

Let's say you were to post a picture from your work day on Instagram. Wouldn't you primp a little more for that picture? Wouldn't you want to amp your usual work ensemble with something more present and on brand? Would you have someone click or click about 30 pictures and post the best one?

This goes to show that netizens and influencers alike would post highlights. Meaning that what they would show their followers would be an enhanced picture of something everyone normally does, thus making a subtle yet noticeable difference between themselves and their audience.

⚡️insights:

The world of Instagram is made out to be perfect. No doubt that there are different definitions of perfect, but at the end of the day anyone posting with a wide following would want to fit in to certain parameters created by ourselves. 

Standards are set on body image, appearance, picture taking skills as well as editing. It may look easy to make yourself look airbrushed in a picture, but it doesn't reflect what you are behind the screen.

When almost everyone with a significant online presence began posting as well as consuming such perfected content, things went downhill. No one saw these people as real, normal people. When they were seen outside of their Instagram page, they were subject to scrutiny and any possible flaw was highlighted.

⚡️an outcome:

This scrutiny bore two outcomes. 

✰First, everyone started working on how to make their life as perfect and colourful as they could even when they were not creating content. They set impossible to meet standards for themselves and started going down a rabbit hole of so called "perfection". People who consumed their content began to also try and make their lives "perfect". Soon, it became a widespread problem. Content creators and consumers became self conscious, exposed to negative comments about any possible flaw not covered up and generally suffering from general indifference. 

✰Second, some content creators noticed that this perfected life now didn't differentiate their content or make them relatable to the masses of followers they had. To fix this, they started posting "Real" content from their lives, posting about how their day also looks like anyone else's day, how they also do not have perfect skin all the time. This soon became the new normal, quite literally. When the whole "perfect" facade ended, several celebrities and content creators spoke about how it affected their mental and physical health. For example, Taylor Swift went through an eating disorder to fit into the media's parameters for an ideal body image. Women like Selena Gomez and Hailey Baldwin were pitted against each other based solely on their outwardly appearance, which in turn affected their relationship and mental health. Sonam Kapoor, a popular Indian actress spoke about how much correction and maintenance goes on to make themselves upto the mark. Several smaller yet significant content creators stripped their brand to "real" "this is me" and "bare minimum". This whole movement created an air of positivity and consumers began to let go of the scrutiny and insecurity and began embracing this new and fresh content.

⚡️conclusion and takeaway:

This goes to that people who we look at through the screen also go through the turmoil of being in the public eye. Their filtered and perfected content is not fun and games to create. As consumers, we must know better than to get insecure or judgemental about someone who themselves may be struggling to paint such a picture of their lives. 

To summarise, it is very important to know that consumers and creators, even people who just have an ordinary social media presence are on a level playing field. Almost everything, if not specifically addressed that is authentic, is put through subtle filters. May it be a preset to make your skin look flawless or some clever photography techniques. So to conclude this, love yourself as you are, be sensitive to people you see, and most importantly, keep it real and embrace the reality and the differences that make you and them an individual. 

Until Next Time,

Pushti