Social media have become an integral part of our daily lives: on the train, in the dentist’s waiting room, in the office (even in the bathroom!) or quietly at home. An average Italian spends at least two hours a day on their friends’ profiles or company pages.
On Instagram in particular, with over 16 million daily active users in Italy, our perception of ‘beauty’ has changed over the years, creating expectations in us close to aesthetic perfection. Each of our photos must have the right light, the best filter (and another chapter could be opened here), ¾ composition, saturated colours, etc.
To be honest, such habits represent the past. Everything is falling apart now.
The collapse of the wall/aesthetic myth
Today, the so-called Generazione Z has grown tired of the aesthetic myth on Instagram and teenagers are increasingly looking for real and original content. What they want now is emotion.
On social, influencer, especially in America, forego the curated and researched feed in favour of images without filters or colour correction; they do not use Photoshop to correct the image, rather they post directly from mobile. They don’t stress about posting too many photos or maintaining a narrative thread every 3 images, if they feel a photo is good, they just share it. Yes, even if they are grainy or low-quality photos; aesthetic perfection they gladly leave to corporate brands.
Reading through the interviews with the young influencers, one answer particularly struck me: Claire, pseudonym of a 15-year-old girl, says:
It’s not cool anymore
to be manufactured.
Let us pause for a moment on the last word manufactured, which in Italian would translate as ‘industrial’ or ‘artificial’. Here, (drum roll) the new generation does not want to be fake and prefers to represent itself on social media authentically without the need to create a retouched identity.
While previously Instagram could be considered guilty of this aesthetic trend through filters and apps dedicated to improving photos,it would now appear to be doing a U-turn. For example, as of a few weeks ago, it will no longer be possible to display the number of likes in brand images and the user will therefore not be influenced by this data.
In other words, social is telling us that a picture is beautiful even with five likes.
After all, what is beautiful is what is pleasing
The concept of beauty is changing.
Of course, a regulation has not come out banning perfect photos from now on, but something is moving. Stars and influencers through Instagram try to be more accessible to their users and do not just sell cosmetics or clothes, but actively engage on this channel to talk about important issues such as bullying, mental illness and stress caused by the pursuit of perfection. They recount their experience in stories and posts, vent and help their followers fight haters.
Perhaps we really have grown tired of seeing in our profiles the swimming pools in luxurious resorts, the super photogenic gourmet dish and the model’s new costume. Simplicity and humanity. These are the new keywords.
What about corporate accounts?
Brands in this context have to evolve and figure out how to move sooner rather than later. Their future target audience already has different needs and expects to find content that they can identify with and relate to.
Let’s forget
cromatic wall
by aesthetic perfection.
Sources
- Taylor Lorenz, The Instagram Aesthetic is Over, The Atlantic (23 apr 2019) – https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/04/influencers-are-abandoning-instagram-look/587803/
- Alice Di Michele, Il futuro di Instagram: ovvero la fine del mito estetico, The Millennial (13 mag 2019) – https://themillennial.it/lifestyle/il-futuro-di-instagram-fine-del-mito-estetico/
- Clara Mazzoleni, Come sta cambiando l’estetica su Instagram (23 apr 2019) – https://www.rivistastudio.com/instagram-colori/
