In 2020, at the peak of the pandemic, before the first vaccines had rolled out, I took Instagram off of my phone. Peak pandemic had led to peak scroll; those of us lucky enough to be stuck at home on lockdown had too much time to peer into other people's lives, filtered and algorithmically served up to sate our curiosities and stoke our insecurities. My screen-time reports were embarrassing. I was served an army of beige influencers; from their square frames, they stared back at me serenely in their beige loungewear with their beautiful beige children inside these airy, spotless beige homes in whatever vacation destination they had escaped to.
Where was the mess? Where were the piles of laundry? Books? Toys? Where were the tears? Where was the rage? The pandemic exposed so many cracks in our society, and certain swaths of Instagram projected a version of reality that seemed untouched by it. I logged off for many reasons, but this was one of them.
If this story makes me sound holier-than-thou, let me swiftly disabuse any notions of my so-called willpower: I never fully deleted my Instagram account (I still lurk on desktop), and I downloaded TikTok instead. I simply diverted my scroll addiction. But on TikTok, something else was happening: Behind the dances and pratfalls and cooking videos and #grwms were people's real and messy spaces. They also had piles of clothes on chairs behind them and a stack of envelopes on a table that maybe they also would never open. That projection of authenticity is a critical part of TikTok's appeal and contributed to its massive user spike during Covid.
Esta historia es de la edición June - July 2024 de Harper's BAZAAR - US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición June - July 2024 de Harper's BAZAAR - US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
The Epic VISION of BARBARA CHASE-RIBOUD
With a MONUMENTAL new EXHIBITION in Paris, the Americanborn ARTIST looks back on a CREATIVE LIFE spent thinking BIG
She's a FREE SPIRIT and an OLD SOUL, a Disney Legend and a Grammy winner.ONE THING MILEY CYRUS is NOT INTERESTED in? Being PREDICTABLE.
Miley Cyrus is sitting in front of the stone-walled fireplace in her house in Los Angeles, holding up two coffee-table books.
Routine HABIT
How executive editor LEAH CHERNIKOFF found a SKINCARE REGIMEN she could finally COMMIT to
LIFE of the PARTY
Dance the night away with looks inspired by PARTY MAKEUP of the PAST. Grab BLACK EYELINER and lots of GLITTER, but leave perfection at the door. Here, how to re-create the coolest EYES, LIPS, and FACE for any FESTIVE OCCASION.
RETAIL Therapy
SHOPPING TODAY often feels more like mindless SCROLLING than BUYING something because it makes you feel SPECIAL. One writer discovers the beauty of a more PERSONAL, CUSTOMIZED EXPERIENCE.
CREATIVE Powers
In this edition, our columnist, DEREK C. BLASBERG, visits the PARIS STUDIO of the inimitable artist SETSUKO KLOSSOWSKA DE ROLA, who was married to one of the most celebrated painters of the 20TH CENTURY and has always approached LIVING her LIFE as if she were CRAFTING a MASTERPIECE
BIRTH Story
NEW MOTHERHOOD is often depicted as a BEATIFIC and BLISSEDOUT EXPERIENCE. Writer SARAH HOOVER'S JOURNEY couldn't have been further from it. In her new MEMOIR, she offers an unflinching LOOK at her STRUGGLE with severe POSTPARTUM DEPRESSIONand how she EMERGED from it.
What WORDS Are FOR
We have been LIVING in “UNPRECEDENTED TIMES\" for 25 years. KAITLYN GREENIDGE reflects on what it means to write through a NEW REALITY.
Tipping POINT
When the PROGRESSIVE A-LIST CLIENTELE of the fashionable workout BALLET BEAUTIFUL learned that its FOUNDER was MARRIED to an ARCHITECT of the MAGA BLUEPRINT to impose an ultraconservative social agenda, PROJECT 2025, many felt SHOCKED and even BETRAYED
SABATO's Way
hor GUCCI creative director SABATO DE SARNO, remaking the storied Italian HOUSE for a NEW ERA isnt about OUTRUNNING its PAST. ts about MAKING some HISTORY ofhis OWN.
