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Instagram-Famous Teen Shows the Dark Backstory of Her Perfect Selfies

teenvogue.com

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Re: Instagram-Famous Teen Shows the Dark Backstory of Her Perfect Selfies

#21
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. Is she advocating for complete removal of social media from the web? Good. It has done nothing good for anyone.

Not sure if this is sarcasm. Job opportunities, facilitating protests/revolutions, artistic collaborations, ...

speaking of jobs, where does the product ultimately take the public? Not alive during the dev. of rockets, and space exploration, but everything since then seems to just be a circle jerk about the next uber-for-pulling-bugs-off-my-windshield.

Re: Instagram-Famous Teen Shows the Dark Backstory of Her Perfect Selfies

#22

Some people are more attractive, cooler, more interesting, than others. It's not some evil plot by the corporations to make us feel bad about ourselves. These people are really out there. The left wing narrative that all bad things that happen to us stem from some structural power imbalance in our society, is blind to this fact of nature. So they need strange stories like this to explain away the apparent differences…

I like how you're ignoring the testimony of an actual attractive/cool/popular person to make your point about attractive/cool/popular people.

Re: Instagram-Famous Teen Shows the Dark Backstory of Her Perfect Selfies

#23
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if this is sarcasm. Job opportunities, facilitating protests/revolutions, artistic collaborations, ...

Not at all. See my reply to your sibling comment. Add to your list massive government and corporate spying.

That's fine and I agree to some extent. But you said 'nothing good for anyone.' Some organizations abusing social media doesn't nullify the good things that have happened because of it.

Re: Instagram-Famous Teen Shows the Dark Backstory of Her Perfect Selfies

#24

She had to pose is what I'm getting from this. Granted, I'm not one of those people who thinks modelling is simple, but I'm not following what is severely dark about that.

Because the overwhelming narrative for attractive people on camera is "I woke up like this." Candid-looking pics like these lie brazenly about how much effort goes into making the perfect shot, and self-conscious kids burn themselves out trying to live up to a standard that is literally impossible in real life.

Re: Instagram-Famous Teen Shows the Dark Backstory of Her Perfect Selfies

#25

She had to pose is what I'm getting from this. Granted, I'm not one of those people who thinks modelling is simple, but I'm not following what is severely dark about that.

Click bait title.. having to take 100 shots for 1 good one is not the darkness I was promised.

Re: Instagram-Famous Teen Shows the Dark Backstory of Her Perfect Selfies

#26
post #8

She had to pose is what I'm getting from this. Granted, I'm not one of those people who thinks modelling is simple, but I'm not following what is severely dark about that.

I guess the problem is making it pass for something it is not, i.e. real life.

Do people actually think that?

I thought it was well understood that photography is fantasy-art, instead of documentation.

Re: Instagram-Famous Teen Shows the Dark Backstory of Her Perfect Selfies

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently it took over her life, became an obsession. Social media made it easy to collect acclaim and popularity on a massive scale. Massive compared to what physical, real life offered.

Right, so like modelling, which is not exactly an obscure occupation. That she did it using instagram doesn't make much difference there. I think it's important to point out that I am an old man, not a teenager, so overdramatizing things doesn't boost my engagement.

Her "coming out" is not applicable to my life (and presumably not yours) as I'm a very casual social-media user (also, I guess, an old man at 42), so at some level I can see how it seems trivial. And the clickbaity, overly dramatic headline here (reused from teen vogue... which I'm not familiar with but I'll guess is not heralded as a literary journal of merit) doesn't help sell the story too much.

But I know enough young people to realize that the social media "like"-fueled bubble she was apparently living in is not unique to her and is surprisingly pervasive/scary among a lot of people her age (even those who aren't "internet famous"). Given that, I totally respect her realizing how superficial it can all be, realizing how misleadingly disconnected from real-life it can be and stepping back and telling her story of what seems like a real social media obsession so that others might step back as well and rethink how they deal with social media.

Nobel prize worthy? No. Of course not. But brave within the context of her life. So kudos, Essena O'Neill, Australian girl I've never heard of but who may have a useful message for others.

Re: Instagram-Famous Teen Shows the Dark Backstory of Her Perfect Selfies

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently it took over her life, became an obsession. Social media made it easy to collect acclaim and popularity on a massive scale. Massive compared to what physical, real life offered.

Right, so like modelling, which is not exactly an obscure occupation. That she did it using instagram doesn't make much difference there. I think it's important to point out that I am an old man, not a teenager, so overdramatizing things doesn't boost my engagement.

Life-work balance is important until you retire.

Re: Instagram-Famous Teen Shows the Dark Backstory of Her Perfect Selfies

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than help start revolutions in the Middle East.

It collapsed two countries and nearly got a third but ended with exchanging one dictator for another. How is Tunisia these days? The origin gets overlooked with the rest of the shit show going on.

> It collapsed two countries and nearly got a third

So that's nothing, now?

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