#Perfect: How To Escape The Perfection of Social Media

When philologists need to recreate an original text from a bunch of manuscripts, the most useful instrument they have is mistakes. It’s the mistakes, the imperfections, the oversights contained in the copies that make it possible to recreate the version that is most similar to the one conceived by the original author. Without mistakes, philology would have never existed and unfortunately (or, according to people that don’t love humane litterae, fortunately) we would only know Dante and Ariosto by their fame, but not their work. Philology is only one of the many disciplines of human knowledge in which the mistake is more important than perfection: just think about software development, science, cooking.

Our society has forgotten the fundamental value of the mistake, by obsessing over the myth of perfection.

The digital world in which we are submerged is a continuous race towards perfection: social networks are the perfect philter to show our perfect lives, or at least to make them seem like so.

Social networks are a window to show off the best version of ourselves, the smarter one, the most cultured, that has the most friends, and the most expensive stuff. You just need the right framing to eliminate the imperfection, that you can edit out anyway with most photo editing apps. Many people use this system to augment and consolidate their fame, like celebrities, or even to create it.

The so called “influencers” are web personalities that built their fame through social networking, by posting images of their apparently perfect lives. Most of them present themselves very well, have an infallible sense of fashion, conduct a splendid life surrounded by successful friends, travel all over the world, hang out with VIPs. But is it really true? Is their life really perfect?

Ripping the Veil of Maya

The german philosopher Schopenauer, in his book “The world as will and representation”, created the expression “veil of Maya, a very effective metaphor to describe that glaze that conditions our life. The veil is a sort of opaque varnish that covers reality, making it illusory and false, as if we were forced to view the outside world through the living room curtains. Social media is, so to speak, an extra heavy velvet curtain.

They constantly invite us to add filters, stickers and funny descriptions to further embellish an already fictitious representation of reality. If us “commoners”, with our meager number of followers, try to present the best version of ourselves, imagine who, every day, has to satisfy the expectations of thousands of demanding people.

The influencers have to always be in fantastic shape, even if they have a pimple on their nose and a scorching fever.

Is this truly what we aspire to?

Are these the role models we want?

All that glitters ain’t gold

Unless you are a holy zen heremite that live in a cave high up on a mountain it is absolutely normal for you to be envious of someone. Whatever your passion is, there will always be an influencer that has that thing you want so much, but that you cannot afford. That gorgeous Gucci bag, that super powerful Mercedes, that prohibitively expensive pedigree dog that looks like a peluche toy. “If only I could have that”.

You only need basic knowledge of social media marketing mechanics to know that, often, the stuff influencers post on their instagram pages is not even theirs.

A picture and there, return it to the agency that will hire it to the next blogger. better to have a pair of signed shoes in the wrong size to take a picture with and then return to the owner or better to keep dreaming about them?

Pretty hurts

Once the lies of social media have been revealed, it’s easy to fall prey to skepticism.

So everything I see on Instagram is false?

So if I use social networks I am a liar?

Certainly not.

Facebook and such are wonderful ways to pass time, a product of our society that is useless, if not harmful, to ignore or demonize.

The point is: How much am I prepared to expose? How ready am I to be sincere and show a side of me that is positive, but real? No one is perfect, not even the bloggers that seem to be. They are human too, in their varied and surprising imperfections.

The number of regretful influencers grows by the day, as they start to denounce the fictitious base that upholds their perfect lives, dictated harshly by the companies that hire them.

Many of them speak of extreme unhappiness, of missed meals and lost friends in exchange for that longed comment from their followers: “You are perfect!”. What to do? First, we need to escape the machine:

• Trying to post a pic with no filters or embellishments can be a start.
• Turning off notifications so that we are not dependant on “likes”.
• Stop confronting your life with that of someone who, with the help of a specialised team, is selling their existence.

Remember, a philologist can do nothing with two identical, perfect texts. Without error, without imperfections, we are nothing.

******

Here are some Instagram profiles that will help you discover a new side of social networks, the disenchanted, ironic and positive one.

filthyratbag (Celeste Mountjoy), young artist from Melbourne that creates vitriolic comic strips puts on paper all the problems of adolescence, from sex to politics.

mrpimpgoodgame is a man who publish a selfie a day, always smiling and posing in the same, hilarious way.

manrepeller is a webzine founded and directed by Leandra Medine, ironic and feminist fashion expert that will help you develop your personal style with her eccentric suggestions.

cookingforbae is the perfect account if you’re tired of perfect food pictures posted on Instagram and Pinterest. Here’s every meal is ugly and pictures are horrible.

rookiemag is a webzine founded by Tavi Gevinson, curated for creative teenagers by creative teenagers.

littlelizziev (Lizzie Velasquez), motivational speaker against bullying and for self confidence.

[This essay has been translated by Brian Grieco. You can read the original and Italian version here]