The antidote to social media is real life community which is difficult when all local events and pop ups are advertised only on Instagram. Its the new community message board. But even irl we copy each other. The same way an abused child becomes an abuser. We psychologically mirror. Mirroring
The Instagramification of restaurants has changed literally the way we want food we go to restaurants specifically because they are Instagram available and the food is beautiful but tasteless and this is similar to how Michelin restaurants plate gourmet food and how things switch in society, how bone marrow used to be for poor people but now it’s an elevated and luxury food.
People copy each other. Which isn’t bad in itself. Imitation is the highest form of flattery after all. It becomes malicious when you resent who you are copying. Sometimes people get mad if you copy them and I only get mad if I know you want to become me, to subsume my identity and you don’t have your own. Little kids or immature adults copy quite frequently, even in social contagion phenomenon. Copy a few things but when it starts to be everything from the type of car you drive to fashion to even disorders, its creepy. It becomes detrimental when you center your entire identity around one facet.
Think about Disney adults or people who define themselves by their chronic illness or ADHD. Identities are multi-faceted. A woman can be a mother, an aunt, a writer, enjoy Disney and more. Identity is not static. But by saying “I am X” only, I think it perpetuates a feeling of self worth tied to a changing reality. Its self-obsession. You are not X. You are you.
I think social media has heightened this identity crisis through aesthetics and niches. Now I enjoy reading, gaming, interior design and I follow many influencers. The concept of “aesthetic” has now blown up. I think doing things in your life to copy an aesthetic for the sake of Instagram is sad and slightly pathetic. If you don’t do it for love, why are you doing it?
I started a gaming journal because i saw @GaminginYellow and admired it so much. I wanted the same thing. While I cannot make the page art spreads like her, I liked the printing of screenshots and did that instead with minimal writing because of my dyspraxia. If my hands didn’t cramp, you could bet your ass I would be journaling all the time. I love that aesthetic. But its only one facet of my life. The other facets are the actions that are not photographed; taking care of sick family members or hanging with friends until midnight.
I enjoy reading and the dark academia aesthetic. My home and life is not ruled by this aesthetic. I enjoy my kindle and coffee table books but I don’t revolve my whole clothing collection or interior design to fit an aesthetic. Aesthetics used to be a subculture but are now a lifestyle. Take the clean girl aesthetic, there are girls getting their tattoos removed in order to fit an aesthetic on the internet that most likely came from Tumblr.
Tumblr and Instagram and Reddit are the fuel of the internet and the fuel is drivel and brain rot. The internet has leaked into physical life. Pokemon cards, dumpling squishies, and even bath products are an aesthetic or a collection. Call it what it is: hoarding and loneliness.
I think aesthetics are fun to look at and yeah like anyone else, I feel inadequate with my non-aesthetic Instagram feed, but life is not an aesthetic. Its just life.
We compete with and copy our society. Our society is now the internet. I have nothing against the internet. I love it. I’ve learned so much and I love going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole. The internet’s greatest strength is knowledge. I have access to scientific journals and the ability to articulate to my doctors about my conditions. I can research deep sea creatures until I feel dizzy. I learn so much about the world through YouTubers that go to North Korea or explore the Paris Catacombs.
The romanticization of certain cultures and countries plays into this as well. Tourism has experienced a huge boom because of Instagram and the aesthetic of Tumblr. We love to romanticize Japan but hate on India. Tumblr and anime have fueled as renaissance for Japan. A love that is mentally hard to shake. The aesthetic and romanticism surrounding Japanese culture as being clean, polite, respectful, kawaii, and exotic is similar to the European romanticism. Western Europe is considered beautiful, old, historic, and deeply cultural vs Eastern Europe. The idea we have is created by the visuals we read and see. The movies we watch and the fantasy in our heads. But fantasy is different from reality. Many people love Japan, but the reality of 18 hours work days and drinking every night and high rates of suicide are brushed under the rug for an aesthetic. For the romantic notion of the exotic. Exoticism - Wikipedia
This is nothing new. During the olden days when cultures and people were more isolated, all you had were stories to go off of. Someone visited Arabia or Japan and told stories of a culture so different, it seems alien. The visual differences and lack of translation made other cultures seem romantic and this is where racism steps in. Inferiority and yet they would copy. Think about white actors in black face but refusal to hire black actors. Or dressing up as Geisha for Halloween. Etc.
I don’t believe in cultural appropriation. But racism is exists everywhere. Anyways, I’m getting off point. The internet has taught me a lot. Copying each other will always exist. “There is no original thought” after all. I will come up with a cool idea for a story, only to realize it has already been written. Just don’t be malicious about it. We copy society and friends and they copy us. We feed off each other and there is nothing wrong with that.
I think having an aesthetic can have meaning. It gives a sense of purpose. And in your head, you know there are other people out there doing the same thing. It can create a mentally linked community. I enjoy my aesthetic, knowing others enjoy the same thing. Its weird and good and inspiring. And it shows how social media can live in the brain. We crave human connection.
(There is no morality to this article. Just observation of society.)