“Say cheese” whips everyone into attention to put on their best smile and look at the camera.
The lens snaps an image, and everything looks civil and joyous. Pictures come out great, the memories behind them tell a whole other story. Whether you have two siblings showing teeth just moments after they clubbed each other or a forced smile from the kid who was just spewing tears after falling off the swing set.
No matter the tale behind the photo, we as a society put such a large emphasis on the way we look to others.
Apps like Facebook and Instagram have created a platform for people of all backgrounds. This convenience is great to spread culture. However, the culture being spread is not real.
The obsession over being favored takes the “genuinity” out of life as filters and edits carve true beauty into a mirage of cover-ups.
Not only does having the perfect image force people to fake it, but it also shifts companies to deal with COVID-19, which has brought a new significance in dealing with their appearance to the world. The signs of mask rules look responsible in ads and from the outside, yet inside the aisles, customers roam maskless.
In restaurants, it is life or death to walk in with your life-saving mask, yet the second you sit down, the virus is gone?
Similarly, athletes around the world look heroic taking the field, masks up. In reality, they still play mask-free and only wear them for the image of the league.
Are the masks really crucial to slowing the virus? Or are we more worried about the trend of looking like we are a part of the solution?
— Jack Mueller