A very sad story came up in my feed, and even though I don't want to appear callous, I'm not entirely surprised that this has happened. I mean, we live in a world of lonely people who seek attention and approval, and how far people are willing to go for that at times is concerning.
So apparently this young girl attempting to take the perfect selfie fell of the top of a building. There are more details about the incident, but they are not relevant at the moment. What I do want to talk about is the impulse, the decision of taking such a risk, and why would someone turn off their better judgment for the perfect instagram upload.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the appeal. People want to be beautiful, both men and women, and we live in an attention economy that rewards beauty handsomely. There are countless people who make a living as instagram models, and they do pretty good for themselves. I do question the psychological pressure they must endure to always be perfect for the cameras, but I also question the long term game they are playing.
Of course in the case of this young girl of 15, the story is over. But, what was the plan, so to speak? Be a instagram model, become a millionaire, ride out your beauty for as long as possible and then what? Again, please don't misunderstand I embrace the fact that we are drawn to beauty, but are we reaching a tipping point here? Is this a generational thing? These new generations, and I feel old when I say this, have known nothing else but a world where you must compete for the attention of strangers online.
These are some confusing times, confusing indeed. We've never been so connected to each other, the revolution of internet and social media gave us that, yet we've never been so lonely, so hungry for attention.
MenO
