Riya Bhajan - Society of Spectacles

I wanted my weekly selfie to conceptually represent the distortion of reality. I also wanted to represent body dysmorphia where individuals will overthink, focus, and exaggerate their perceived "flaws" in their appearance.

Quote: 

 "The first phase of the domination of the economy over social life brought into the definition of all human realization the obvious degradation of being into having. The present phase of total occupation of social life by the accumulated results of the economy leads to a generalized sliding of having into appearing, from which all actual "having" must draw its immediate prestige and its ultimate function. At the same time, all individual reality has become social reality directly dependent on social power and shaped by it. It is allowed to appear only to the extent that it is not." Quote 17

Response:

    Presently it is indistinguishable to know what is real or fake on social media, in advertisements, and in Media in general. Focusing on social media, the issue with social media is the distortion of reality through the creation of "online personas." On the internet, we all project a particular image of who we are. We are showing others what we want them to see, not necessarily the reality of our life. Due to the concern of validating others, showing the world how successful, beautiful, or fun we are might be damaging our perception of our true selves. Also, individuals who may not be able to accomplish particular lifestyles may be influenced by these images to believe they must live up to a specific standard of living that is not real.