Lara Semmé
In a world where technology and social media are omnipresent, there has been a drift to recording and photographing even the minutiae. Lara Sammé discusses the downsides of the modern prioritisation of aesthetics over experiences and living in the moment.
Life for young people today is largely based upon aestheticism and certain trends, whether it be fashion trends or the need to upload an aesthetic photo to Instagram. Or the burden of committing to an activity such as a girl’s group holiday, ‘to do it for the plot’.
In reality, the appeal of aestheticism can sometimes be entirely fake, and there is a clear correlation here. The Instagram photos we upload to our stories or posts all have layers behind them, a façade lurks on account pages as the images we may assume to be ones of happiness and thus become jealous of, hide the burden of reality.
Should we learn to break free from this aesthetic utopia before it transforms into a dystopia?
Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ holds great significance more than ever, in a society conditioned to use mobile phones and social media at any given chance. Should we learn to break free from this aesthetic utopia before it transforms into a dystopia along the lines of Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ – where “everyone belongs to everyone else”?
‘To do it for the plot’
I have personally witnessed the downfall of this ‘doing it for the plot’ movement. How this aspect not only creates chaos for the individual pursuing it but also for those who they are surrounded by. ‘To do it for the plot’, to do it because it’s trendy, regardless of whether one is interested.
My mum and I are huge tennis fans, so we entered the Wimbledon Ballot and were delighted when we received tickets for the second day, Court One! We both enjoyed the day massively, particularly as we had a good draw – the ‘Battle of the Brits’ was staged upon Court One, with Katie Boulter against Harriet Dart, then soon after Jack Draper took on Cameron Norrie, as well as the last match where the German player, Alexander Zverev, gained an easy win.
Yet amongst the excitement, we were aggravated by the constant flow of people in and out of the court, the noise and the disregard for the players’ concentration. As people left their seats unattended during the matches. In particular, a couple sitting in front of us probably watched around 30 minutes of tennis the entire day; they clearly had tickets for Court One and dedicated seats, yet hardly watched any tennis at all! They completely missed the British women’s singles, watched around half an hour of the British men’s singles, and were nowhere to be seen during the last match. Why bother to enter the ballot and pay for tickets, and not even watch any of the matches available to you?
I remember scanning the empty rows of chairs in Court One and thought of how many people would love to see these tennis matches – many had queued for hours just to receive a ground pass. During the breaks, we watched people posing with their aesthetic outfits in front of the court, only to return to their seats after the break and scroll endlessly through their recent photos, ignoring the players entirely. The whole concept frustrates me, like other attractions around the world, social media has taken over, and places have become a checklist – to tick certain places off the list and upload photos so followers can envisage what you’ve experienced. Yet have you truly experienced the emotions of this place, of this event? I would have loved to ask one of these ‘spectators’ if they could tell me who won the Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart match. Tennis is ultimately a form of art, and like the theatre, people should not be able to exit and enter continuously.
aestheticism and trends make me question whether life has become just a collage of photographs
Thus, aestheticism and trends make me question whether life has become just a collage of photographs and whether people are experiencing life or photographing it. The aesthetic moments within their lives uploaded to social media tie into the notion of how fabricated and anxiety-inducing social media can become for young people. How overthinking certain events on social media can damage young people’s health, like fearing one is missing out on travelling the world or not seizing certain opportunities such as going to university. Life is about people making their own way in the world, under their own terms. It is the concept of believing in oneself, trusting one’s instincts to enjoy life and not worrying about how aesthetic someone else’s life may be, as behind the façade of social media, a whole other life is led. Social media could almost be envisioned as a modern-day metaphor for Dorian Gray, with its aesthetic and beautiful appeal, and yet the dishonesty which lurks behind this attractive façade.
I must admit, otherwise, I would feel guilty, that there is an element of hypocrisy within this article. As many of my friends may acknowledge my Instagram page is perhaps a tiny bit aesthetic. Yet the photos which I post hold significance; I ensure that all my photos are natural as I dislike editing, and I don’t feel entirely comfortable posing for pictures and faking a smile; lastly, all my followers are friends and people I know. Yet writing this article has taught me the damaging effects of social media: the need to upload photos and prove that you do indeed have an interesting life and how fake social media is and forever will be, as only particular moments are selected to appear on one’s feed. Thus, it is no crime to purchase clothes or upload aesthetic photos, but maybe one should focus on the true meaning of life. So, dance and sing at the next concert, don’t stand fixated on videoing the entire song, and donate clothes to charity, as hopping on every trend isn’t worth it. Appearing aesthetic does not have any true worth in life.
Lara Semmé
Featured image courtesy of Solen Feyissa via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of John Fornander on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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