A few years ago, Instagram was an ideal place to show the most beautiful personal image: carefully decorated face, sacred side corners, perfect light taken photos and delicately selected captions. But now, the taste of aesthetics on social networks is showing clear signs of change.
From "virtual life" to "real life"
Many users - especially Gen Z - are proactively moving away from elaborately arranged photos. They replace it with a series of photos posted in the style of "photo dump" - collecting spontaneous, blurred, patchwork photos during the week: Maybe it's a photo of a shaking sunset, a dish that is not beautiful, a face that laughed all the way with confused ears.
Even Jennifer Lopez - the star associated with her gorgeous image - once posted a series of everyday photos with a simple caption: "Summer!". According to Buzzfeed, this sharing style shows that users are "breathing a sigh of relief" after living under pressure of beauty and meticulousness all the time.
Not only ordinary people, but many celebrities also caught up with the trend. Salma Hayek confidently showed off her gray hair and wrinkles. Ariana Grande posted a photo of her bare face right after waking up. Ashley Graham posted a photo of his body after giving birth, not yet back in shape.
Keke Palmer revealed acne skin due to PCOS and was not afraid to talk about her treatment journey. These "ugly" images, instead of making viewers uncomfortable, make them feel comforted, because in the end, even the most famous people are sometimes clumsy and not perfect like many others.
This change did not come randomly. It reflects a tiredness that is quietly accumulating in the hearts of social media users - when everything becomes too unreal, too fake and away from reality.
When users are tired of being perfect
A 2016 study showed that only 32% of participants admitted that they were always honest on social media. The rest are more or less "acting" - not to deceive, but to match the image standards they think others are expecting.
These standards, especially among young people, are leaving serious consequences. According to a survey by Dove, on average, a teenage girl has to take 14 selfies to choose one to post. And 1 in 4 children believes that they do not look beautiful enough if they do not edit their photos. That is an alarming number, as the filter has turned from a beauty tool to a psychological barrier.
The Guardian quoted Ellen Spangberg - a social media expert in Sweden - as saying that more and more young people are protesting beauty filters because they make them feel not good enough in real life. Movements such as #nofilter, #nomakeup, or #FilterDrop (requesting transparency when using filters in advertising) are spreading as a resistance.
Even seemingly meaningless moments - such as posting a careless photo or sharing an unsatisfactory photo - become a way for users to affirm that they no longer want to be judged by fake standards. This liberation, no matter how small, is contributing to shaping a new aesthetic standard: Beauty no longer means perfection, but authenticity.
Changes in tastes do not only occur in users. Social media platforms - which are based on catching up with trends - have also quickly adjusted to keep up.
TikTok - the most popular application of Gen Z today - has stood out from the beginning with its "rough" content style, natural, and less staged. TikTok users are not afraid to post videos of messy bedrooms, unwashed faces or funny and sad situations in daily life. On the contrary, it is that awkwardness that makes the video more popular, because it makes viewers feel empathy.
The BeReal application - a social network phenomenon in 2022 - has pushed authenticity to a new level. Every day, BeReal sends a notification at a random time, asking users to take a photo for 2 minutes with both the front and rear cameras. No filter, no editing, no re-posting later. BeReal becomes a symbol of the desire to live truly on social networks: whatever photo you post, you are actually living like that at that time. From less than 1 million users in early 2021, BeReal has reached more than 21 million by mid-2022 and was honored by Apple as "app of the Year".
Immediately, major platforms such as Instagram and Facebook released the Candid Stories feature - a simulation of the BeReal idea. Instagram also adjusts its algorithm to prioritize regular content over perfect photos. According to a report from Emplifi, Gen Z is associated with unedited content, while Millennials still tend to like leafy content. But it is clear that the flow is leaning towards real, rough and natural.
The rise of the de- influenceencing movement also reflects that. Instead of recommending buying item A, product B, content creators start sharing about things... not worth buying. They frankly talk about their failed experiences with expensive items and advise viewers to be more alert before advertising. According to Buzzfeed, it is this sincerity that creates trust and makes them the most beloved anti- influenceencer.
The more real - the more qualified?
However, many experts warn that real feet online can also be a form of... performance. Some people spend hours choosing "accidentally ugly" photos but still have to look humorous, aesthetic and improvised enough. Part of the "real" is staged to... look real.
The Guardian called it a phenomenon of "fake truth". When too many people compete to live for real, authenticity gradually becomes a "fashion taste", a style that needs to be carefully calculated. Even, as a representative of the dictionary
Merriam-Webster shared that the word authentic was chosen as the word of 2023 because modern people are living in a crisis of faith: The more they suspect what they see, the more they crave the truth.
However, it is undeniable that the trend of promoting rustic and clumsy photos is bringing a pleasant breeze. It both helps users feel more relaxed when they do not have to keep their image and opens up a new space - where imperfections have a place, even being appreciated.
Amidst countless sparkling photos, sometimes just one... "silly" photo is enough to make others laugh and feel relieved. The world always requires us to be meticulous, it is the moments that make us feel like we are ourselves.
When beauty is distorted by filters and staged, carpentry becomes a choice to free. From TikTok to Instagram, Facebook... the true trend is on the rise - as a way to live more comfortably, both in cyberspace and in life.
