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.
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Denne historien er fra June - July 2024-utgaven av Harper's BAZAAR - US.
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HOMECOMING
ANOK YAI returns to HOWARD UNIVERSITY, where she was discovered as a model. It's a sacred space that CAPTURES the best of the AMERICAN SPIRIT and the RELENTLESS DRIVE toward FREEDOM.
WHY DON'T YOU Embrace GLAMOUR?
Having GOOD TASTE will NOT make you HAPPY. CULTIVATING your INNER AESTHETE might.
What's in STORE?
Shopping IN PERSON has never been more INSPIRING. Here, some of our favorite INDIE shops, VINTAGE BOUTIQUES, and MULTIBRAND MECCAS across the U.S.
BANGKOK and BEYOND
The new setting for White Lotus, THAILAND has much to OFFER BEYOND beaches and backpackers
The NEW New Looks
INDEPENDENT DESIGNERS are heralding an END to QUIET LUXURY with their spectacularly SINGULAR VISIONS
RIHANNA
A TITAN of MUSIC, a MOTHER of two, a self-made MOGUL, and the newly minted FACE of DIOR J'ADORE 20 years since her first chart-topping single, just might have MANIFESTED her DREAM LIFE
Bringing UP BABY2BABY
How KELLY SAWYER PA and NORAH WEINSTEIN transformed an L.A. NONPROFIT into a CELEB-STUDDED fundraising JUGGERNAUT-and a LIFELINE for families everywhere
Open BOOK
AMY GRIFFIN has always been a HIGH ACHIEVER-a competitive RUNNER turned successful VENTURE INVESTOR who has made it her BUSINESS to SUPPORT other WOMEN. But as she details in her POWERFUL new MEMOIR, The Tell, there are SOME THINGS that not even she could OUTRUN.
High BROW
Whispers of a SKINNY-BROW RESURGENCE stoked panic. FEAR NOT! What's actually in for brows is whatever SHAPE, COLOR, and STYLE suits you best. Ahead, the NEW RULES for your BEST BROWS EVER, whether you want to achieve the PERFECT ARCH or a FLUFFY LOOK or tweeze (gasp) a LITTLE THINNER.
The ART of GIVING
This month, our columnist, DEREK C. BLASBERG, talks to AWAY cofounder and CEO JEN RUBIO about the free admission program she helped create at New York's WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, what it means to BUILD a PHILANTHROPIC LEGACY, and why ACCESS might be the greatest gift of ALL
